How It All Began
by Kosich Raine
Summary: How the members of the new SH met up and how the SH were reborn! There are some OCs but no one comes out of the blue. DAxOC and MAYBE StorkxOC. I don't own any of the real Storm Hawks, they belong to Asaph Fipke and Nerd Corps. R&R if you could please D
1. Overview

Hey everyone

Hey everyone! I'm new here and this is my first story I'm making so I hope you enjoy it! It's called "How It All Began" and it'll be about how the Storm Hawks met up and were formed. The first chapter will give sort of an overview of the story and the characters and all that jazz. Okay here we go.

Here's my main character, an OC.

Sora: (not the guy from Kingdom Hearts) She's the main character of my story. The older sister of Aerrow, she watches over Aerrow like a good big sister and encourages him and is 5 years older than him. She sort of has feelings for the Dark Ace, and sometimes Stork throughout the story. She has a longer history with the Dark Ace though as you will see soon enough. Sora has red hair just like Aerrow, which ends a little bit below her shoulders and she's got deep blue eyes. I know the dad has brown eyes and since Aerrow has green eyes then that must mean the mom has green eyes, but whatever. Let's just say she's the odd one of the family. She's 14 at the beginning of the story. Oh and she goes to a training academy where she learns how to combat with weapons and/or hands and/or legs. You know what I mean.

The characters we all know of. I chose the ages to fit my story appropriately.

Aerrow: Yes we all know him. Born-to-be-wild-boy, has red hair, green eyes, and of course the Sky Knight of the Storm Hawks!...to be. He's 9 at the beginning of the story. He and Dark Ace had a close relationship, sort of like brothers in the beginning, but then when Dark Ace betrayed the Storm Hawks, they became sworn enemies and…well…you'll see in the story. Aerrow is very interested in flying skimmers and being a Sky Knight just like his dad at an early age. He always asked Dark Ace to train him on how to fight and all but Dark Ace never did. He only taught Sora. Okay you're probably a bit confused so here's Dark Ace.

Dark Ace: He's 17 at the beginning of the story. I think I found out somewhere that before he betrayed the Storm Hawks, his name was Tanner. Then he became Dark Ace after the betrayal. So I'm going to use the name Tanner for the first part of the story. Anyways, DA sort of has a thing for Sora and has that thing for her throughout the story. You'll see it for sure. In the first part of the story, he does have a close relationship with Aerrow too, but he's closer to Sora. He trained Sora in fighting and how to drive a skimmer and do tricks on it and stuff like that. Then for her 14th birthday he took her out to Terra Neon and you'll see what happens. I think the story will have a bit of DAxS.

Radarr: I was really close to forgetting about him! Thank goodness I didn't. Anyways, Radarr hasn't always been with Aerrow since the beginning. You'll find out how the 2 get together and become best buddies for life!

Piper, Junko, Stork and Finn: I don't have much to say about them but in the story you'll find out about how Aerrow and Sora met up with them and how they all came together and made the new Storm Hawks. Oh and Piper, Junko, and Finn are all the same age as Aerrow and Stork is 1 year older than Sora.

Now here are the character's we know barely anything about, but see a little bit in the show. I named them myself since I don't know their real names.

Aurinn: Aurinn is the father of Sora and Aerrow, and also the Sky Knight who was betrayed and defeated by the Dark Ace. He had a good relationship with his wife, Kaila, and the kids. Once Sora was old enough, Aurinn had her go to a training academy so she could later be the next Sky Kni- but wait…what about Aerrow? That's the thing about being a Sky Knight and father of 2 kids. Who would be the next Sky Knight? Anyways, he thought he would have Aerrow go to the academy when he was old enough too, and then he would see who would be the next Sky Knight.

Aunt Olena: Junko's aunt. Although she's a big and buff wallop she's also very kind. Have you seen Mr. Deeds? She's sort of like Jan. Big, buff, strong, kind, but protective too…you know what I mean? Anyways, it's the same aunt that gave Junko the knuckle busters. When she first meets Sora in the story, well…I don't think I should give it away. You'll read it later!

And here's the rest of my OCs.

Jake, Zoram, Enna, and Gunner: They were all part of the former Storm Hawks. And their positions were similar to the next generation of Storm Hawks too. Jake was the sharpshooter and sort of a spy and did sabotages. Enna made plans for the team's missions and often went with Jake on sabotages. Jake and Enna worked pretty well together and actually got along. If only Finn and Piper would. Anyways, Zoram was a big and strong guy who did the smashing, fixed the team's skimmers, and helped fixing the ship with Gunner. Gunner was the pilot of the Condor and he's Stork's older brother. In the end when Tanner betrays the Storm Hawks, they all die. Yes, you heard me. They all died, just like in the show.

Kaila: Sora's and Aerrow's mom. She's in her early-30s in the beginning of the story. We know little of her, but she did take very good care of Sora and Aerrow and also treated Dark Ace like a son when he was part of the Storm Hawks too.

Falcon: Stork's dad. Yeah! Stork and Falcon, 2 birds! Hahaha just kidding! Anywho, Falcon runs a ship and sort of a taxi business. His dream was to see his kid grow up and drive big ships around, and what do you know, it happened! Well…not yet in the story at least. Falcon is a merb just like Stork and is just a bigger and older version of Stork. The only thing is that he doesn't have paranoia of everything and he doesn't say "doom" at the end of every sentence.

Blake: Finn's dad and in his late-30s. Blake is an old family friend of the former Storm Hawks. He was closer to Aurinn than the rest of the Storm Hawks though since he knew him from way back then. Blake knew Sora when she was about 4 years old, one year before Aerrow was born and he never got to know Aerrow. And a little side note, Sora would always call him Mr. Blake instead of just plain Blake. Anyways, after the former Storm Hawks were defeated, Blake hadn't seen any of them, including Sora and the rest of the family, ever since, until…well you'll find out later.

Rosie: Piper's mom and in her mid-30s. She is a single mother because her husband died due to a fight with the Talons when she was pregnant with Piper. Rosie owns and lives in a fair sized 2-story inn on Terra Klias (I made the terra up). Terra Klias is smaller than most terras but has just enough room for the inn and guests to park and all that jazz. The top floor of the inn has rooms for Rosie and Piper to sleep in and more rooms for guests to stay in. The bottom floor consists of a dining room for customers, a kitchen, and a private eating room just for her and Piper. There is somewhat of a fairly large sized yard outside of the inn where people can park and kids can play around and it stretches out to the perimeter of the terra. She does well in her business and raises Piper very well. When she meets Sora and Aerrow she…well...when you read the story you'll know.

So there you go! I'm super excited to work on this story and I hope you'll all enjoy it! And if you want, you could go ahead and rate and comment, say hi or something haha! Okay, catcha all later!


	2. Family Life

Okay everyone! Here's the first chapter of the story! Well, technically second since the first one was the overview and…oh never mind. Anyway…

Disclaimer: I do not own the Storm Hawks, they belong to Asaph Fipke and Nerd Corps. I do however, own the OCs. If you wish to use my OCs for any reason, please ask me first and I'll think about it. My wrath will thrash upon your pitiful soul if you steal them. No, I'm just kidding! But please do ask me first.

Setting: The story first takes place on Terra Sardonia. (I made it up.) This is where the Storm Hawks lived and it's a medium sized terra. There's a large house where the Storm Hawks and Aurinn's family live in and a nice yard and a small woods a little ways off from the house. The Sardonix Crystal is Terra Sardonia's crystal.

How It All Began

"Family Life"

Sora's POV

_It_ _seemed so blue, so pure, so open and inviting. And just how was it so blue?_ _We don't have an ocean here that reflects the color…so…how? And it just stretches out into this wide expanse and goes on and on forever. Dad is sure lucky to roam about in the skies. And the rest of his team too. I wonder how it feels. The wind in your face, the surrounding clouds , terras underneath you, the sun shining…it must be wonderful! It has to be GREAT...greater than great! It's gotta be so great that-_

"Sora? Sora?? Sora, you turd! We're home!"

"Huh?? What? Gunner, did you just called me a turd?"

"Heheheh, you bet! It's the only way to get your attention little missy! Besides, it's funny!"

"Well I'm SO sorry Mr. I-Call-People-Turds-To-Get-Their-Attention! I was daydreaming okay? And you freakin' ruined it. You could have at least tapped me on the shoulder or something! And it's NOT funny," I whined in exasperation, rolling my eyes.

Gunner calling me a turd was enough already. Him driving me home from the academy every single day was too much, because then each time he drove me home, Gunner would call me a turd. But I guess being driven home on the Condor wasn't _that_ bad. I could have been in a different part of the ship, but I liked staring out the massive window in the front, which just happens to be where Gunner steers the wheel.

"Anyways, we're home. And I'd like to spend some time with my ship…alone. So if you could please get ou-"

"My ass, Gunner. It's just a ship! Why do you need to spend 'alone time' with it?"

"Hey! Watch your language, young lady! And the Condor is not _just_ a ship! It helps us Storm Hawks in every way possible! It's our shelter, our protection! It's our home!" Gunner shouted, thrusting his hands above his head.

There was somewhat of an awkward moment. I just stared at the Condor's driver…well…rather…his pose. He stood there, breathing through his mouth quite loudly, with his hands spread out above his head. It seemed the direction he was looking was just at the ceiling, but his face expression told otherwise. It sort of looked like he was expecting something to fall out of the sky, therefore sticking out his hands to catch it.

_Was he always like this? Heck, I should know. I see him every day. Even the days he doesn't pick me up. _

After what seemed like staring at Gunner for five solid minutes, I went over to him and gave him a not-so-enthusiastic hug.

"Gee, I'm sorry. I didn't know that the Condor was _that_ important to you," I said, not entirely truthfully, making an okay-this-is-weird-and-I-don't-know-why-I'm-doing-this look behind him. Weirdly enough, he stayed in the same exact position as before, only, he moved his head to look at the top of my head. I suppose he accepted the apology after awhile since what seemed like thirty seconds later, he hugged me back.

"So…uhh…still weird...but close friends?" I asked nervously, wondering what the heck he was thinking and what he would say.

"Umm…sure. Still weird but close friends," he replied skeptically.

"Okay! Cool!" So I gave Gunner a nice farewell pat on the back, grabbed my backpack, waved, and exited the Condor.

_That girl has issues…_he thought and twitched his eye.

* * *

"Hey everyone! I'm home!" I called out.

It seemed _everyone_ was home today. Mom, Dad, Dad's team, Aerrow, everyone was just lying around the house and relaxing…everyone but Gunner of course. Well…not only Gunner but-

"Sora! There's my girl! How was the academy today?" Aurinn got up from the couch and came over to give me a big bear hug.

"Ouch…haha! Hey Dad," I replied. His bear hugs were deadly. Yes…very deadly. "School was good."

"That's good! That's good! Look who's home, everyone! Say hi!" Aurinn ringed out.

Dad's team, well, the people who were present, welcomed me with friendly smilesand more hugs. Jake came over and put his arm around me and told me that going to the academy was worth it. He also told me a bit about his latest sabotaging mission. Zoram said that learning how to combat would benefit me in the future, and that I should train really hard to get muscle. Enna claimed that if I studied hard and did my best in the academy, I would turn out to be a great Sky Knight, if I ever did become one. It's fun having a nice big family. The more the merrier!

"Kaila! Look who's home!" Aurinn announced once again.

"Ohh! Sora, dear! How was school today?" Mom asked from the kitchen. She was in her apron cooking what looked like to be hamburgers. She came over and gave me a big hug too, just like Dad did. It appeared that Mom thought the hamburgers could wait.

"Hi Mom, school was great! I'm asked that every day and it's pretty much the same answer," I laughed.

"I just want to make sure my daughter's doing okay," Mom retorted.

"Okay! Okay! No offense intended Mom. I was just saying," I smiled. Looking over at the bar area, I saw Aerrow eating his hamburger. There was another spot next to him with a half-eaten hamburger, so I decided to just stand next to him. _I wonder who left their burger._

"Oh! Hey, Aerrow! There's my favorite brother!" I chuckled, walking over to him and tousled with his hair.

"Hi Sora…I thought you forgot about me! You said hi to everyone first!" Aerrow pouted.

"Hey! That's not it! No no no! Not at all! I'd never forget about you, Aerrow, c'mon you know that! Besides, I save the last for best!" I smiled with a wink.

"…Really?"

"Yea! Really! You believe me right?"

The little guy tilted his head and put his right index and thumb to his chin, and thought about it. It appeared that he was taking his time, for whatever reason I don't know. And the weird thing was, everyone, including Mom and Dad, were laughing, but trying to keep it in.

_Why is everyone trying not to laugh? It's just Aerrow thinking if he believes me or not…right? I sure hope so. I wonder if something else is going on that I don't know of…_

"Okay! I believe you!" Aerrow crowed out of the blue.

Raising my eyebrow, I asked, "Wow…did it _really_ take you that long, Aerrow?"

"Yep!" he beamed, crossing his arms and sitting up straight in his chair.

"O…kay…I guess as long as you believe me, it's all good, right?"

"Sure!"

I sighed, "Alright."

I turned to look at my backpack and then I remembered.

"Oh, guess what Aerrow? I found Tanner's sock in my backpack after school!"

Laughing, I went to go get the sock to show it to him. _Wait a minute…_A bit nervous, I turned my head to look at my surroundings. _Where  
IS Tanner anyway? _

While I was walking back with the sock I asked, "Hey uhh…speaking of the devil, where is Tanner?"

That was when everyone started laughing out of their pants. _Umm…seriously what's going on? It's definitely about Tanner, no doubt._

Aerrow pointed at the ceiling above and behind me and grinned, "Are you looking for _him_?"

Craning my neck to see where Aerrow was pointing I mumbled, "What?"

_OH CRAP!_

This strange experience happened in matter of seconds. I turned my head to look what, rather _who_, Aerrow was pointing at and sure enough Tanner was right there hanging from the ceiling. He was only hanging on the ceiling for less than half a second when I looked at him though. After that less than a half a second, he proceeded to push himself off the ceiling, maximizing his momentum with the gravity of the terra, and-

"BONZAI!" Tanner cried, falling from the ceiling.

…And he tackled me…I managed to get out a muffled "ouch" which everyone heard and started guffawing.

_I have never seen anyone travel at that speed before. And I hope that I will never see that again…because being tackled like that hurts like HELL!_

"HAHAHAHAHA! Gotcha, Sora! Oh, thanks for the sock!" Tanner laughed.

Gasping and pausing at each breath I said, "Ugh…yea…no problem… don't…

mention it…" _Damn he's heavy. _"Can you…please…get off…me…now?"

"Hmmm, lemme think about it…"

"Tanner! If you don't…get off soon…I'm going to die…of SUFFOCATION!"

"Okay! Okay! Hahahaha!" he said, finally getting off of me and pulling me up.

"Wow," I said, still gasping. I looked over at Aerrow. "So that's why...you were stalling...so Tanner...could climb up...on the ceiling...eh?"

"Uh-huh!" he beamed once again.

Yet still gasping, I shook my head and breathed out, "Holy…shit..."

Everyone looked at me with a shocked expression, especially Mom and Dad. They knew I cussed sometimes and gave up trying to stop me, so they made a deal with me and said I could do it as long as I didn't do it around Aerrow.

"Sora!" Mom and Dad exclaimed at the same time. _Oops…dam it._

"Holy…err…shit…uhh…ake mushrooms!...Tanner's teaching me about fungus!" I claimed, putting one hand on my hip and pointing the other up above me.

Aerrow eyes widened to the size of dinner plates.

"Really?" he gawked.

I nodded my head slowly and whispered, "Yeaaa…really…"

"WOW! Tanner! You gotta teach me about fungus too!" Aerrow shouted excitedly.

Tanner's plan was just to be a spectator and watch the whole situation, not be _in_ it. But when Aerrow asked him to teach him about the fungus, it seemed like Tanner got hit hard by an invisible object.

"OH! WHAT? Oh! Okay…uhh…how about we go outside and…umm...look for some…shitake...mushrooms?" Tanner stuttered.

Aerrow flew out the back door and yelled, "AWESOME! Tanner's gonna teach me about _shit_ mushrooms!"

"It's shit_AKE_ mushrooms, Aerrow!" Tanner called out.

After Aerrow left the house, probably without noticing Tanner wasn't following him, everyone just sort of stared at each other. Then what seemed like a few minutes, everyone, except Mom, Dad, Tanner, and me, resumed their activities with an everything-happened-too-quickly-so-I'm-just-going-to-mind-my-own-business mindset. Mom and Dad seemed relieved at some level…I think…but they just gave me a next-time-that-happens-you're-in-trouble look, and went back to what they were doing. Tanner looked at me and opened his mouth to say something, but paused.

Finally, he said, "There really are no shitake mushrooms on Terra Sardonia, are there?"

To which I replied, "Not that I know of…"

"Great…I'm screwed…all thanks to you," he mumbled as he slumped out the door after Aerrow. Just as he was about to close it, he poked his head inside with a grin.

"Just kidding," he smiled.

"Oh, haha, okay," I laughed nervously and scratched the back of my neck.

I watched Tanner go out the door and turned to go into the kitchen where Mom was.

"Hey Mom, I'm sorry about what just happened," I scratched the back of my neck. "I'll be more careful next time."

"Next time, you'll be in trouble, so you better be more careful," she stated, matter-of-factly.

"Okay, I'll be more cautious…Mom?"

"Yes?"

"Can I have a hamburger?"

* * *

There you go! My first chapter of the story! I know it's quite long, but it's got a lot of conversation and things going on. I hope you enjoyed it! I'll try to update as much as possible but it's a bit tricky since I'm in the process of moving. Oh, and yes I WILL get to how the Storm Hawks were reborn. I just have to give a bit of background. Anyway thanks for reading, (if you did read it) and if you want, you could rate and review. And even if you don't want to review, just say hi or something. Nothing big. Alright, thanks a lot! Ciao!


	3. Early in the Morning

Alritey then! Let's get this next chapter started! Oh and just to clarify, all of you remember that Tanner is the Dark Ace to be. Remember that. Oh and one other thing! I think that I said Sora was 14 at the beginning of the story, she's not! She's 13 actually, and she turns 14 later. Okay… Here we go! Oh wait one other thing! For the first part of this chapter, imagine the song "It's a Beautiful Morning" okay? It'll help set the scene a lot! Okay, here we go for REAL!

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Storm Hawks. This goes for the rest of the story.

How It All Began

"Early in the Morning"

Sora's POV

_The first thing I heard was the chirping of birds. My eyes were still closed, but I knew it was morning. I felt the sun rays on my face, and the birds' chirping was another hint. Urgh…I dun' wanna get up…hmmm...something tells me today is gonna be a different day though…a super different day. Something's gonna happen. Something definitely better than Gunner calling me a freakin' turd. Hmm...Okay I guess I'll get up now._

I opened my eyes and sat up on my bed. _Yes! That's a half a sit-up for today! Gee, it's a beautiful morning! The sunrise is just…gorgeous!_ Yawning, I went over to my closet to get changed for the day. _Hmmm, today feels different, so I guess I'll wear something different. I normally just wear a shirt with pants…pretty tom-boyish…so…I guess I'll be a _little_ girly today. _I picked out a white shirt and deep blue tank top to wear over it and green, blue, and yellow Bermuda shorts. _Awesome colors. Not too girly though...screw it._

After I changed, I went to the bathroom to brush my red hair, and there was a knock on the door. _Wonder who that is…it's pretty early. OW! Damn knot…urgh...well…it's definitely NOT Tanner since he sleeps in a ton…maybe Mom or Dad. They normally wake up pretty early sometimes…I think. _

"Come in!" I called.

The door creaked open, but I didn't hear anyone say anything. You would have guessed that they would at least say "good morning" or something.

"What the…"

I walked over from my bathroom with my hairbrush to take a look at my door, but no one was there, and the door was closed.

"O…kay…" _Maybe they thought twice about coming into my room._

I turned around to walk back toward my bathroom and right in front of my face is Tanner.

"GOOD MORNING SUNSHINE!" he hooted.

"SHIT!" I shrieked, accidentally smacking him in the cheek with my hairbrush.

Tanner rubbed his cheek. "Ow…that hurt," he complained.

Completely shocked at what I just did, I gave him a big hug and started rambling.

"Oh gosh! Tanner are you okay? I'm sorry! I'm so so so sorry! I...I...I got startled and I just have these crazy reflexes and-"

"Hey it's okay. I'm alright. My jawbone's got a bruise now, but it's no big deal. Put the hairbrush down though."

"I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to! I'm really really sorry! Please I-"

He took my head in his hands and had me look straight in his eyes. _Wow…he's got really captivating eyes…_

"It's OKAY! Alright? I'm fine!" he claimed shaking my head in his hands while he tried to convince me. "I scared you when I shouldn't have, in fact I should be the one that's saying sorry..."

Pause.

"I'm sorry..." and with that he gave me a nice tight hug.

_I feel so…protected…__and…safe…when he hugs me like that. And…I feel really loved too…wow…sort of…awkward…I never thought about him that way…I never thought of him…and me. _To make the best of the hug, I snuggled my head against his chest. As we stood there, Tanner holding me in his arms, I began to have a conversation with myself, in my head.

_Do you love him? You do love him don't you? I can tell._

_Shut up! I don't, okay? He's just hugging me to show that…he's…okay…after being smacked by my hairbrush…_

_Or maybe he's trying to tell you that he loves you…_

_I don't think he ever would! And I DON'T love him back._

_Yes you do! I know because I AM you!_

_Urgh…damn it…Okay! Fine! I do love him! There happy? I confessed! But I know he doesn't love me back okay? Just let me enjoy this moment I have with him. It's probably the best I'll ever get anyway._

_Thank you! But how do you know he doesn't love you back? And let me tell you this, you're gonna eventually confess it to him. It's…inevitable._

_Great…just what I needed…_

* * *

After what seemed like an eternity, Tanner finally broke away from the hug and held my shoulders and said, "Hey, why don't you come downstairs and we'll have a nice breakfast, okay?"

I replied, "O…kay..." and nodded my head.

The next thing that happened was…a bit strange I would have to say. (As if the morning wasn't already strange enough.) After Tanner said we should go eat breakfast, he immediately flew out the room and ran downstairs. _Is…he…okay? It's only morning, EARLY in the morning, and weird things are ALREADY happening…you know what, maybe that's why. Tanner's not a morning person…at least I don't think so…but he probably has like…reverse morning sickness or something..._The smell of waffles reached my nose. _Screw this, I'm gonna go eat breakfast. _

* * *

Epilogue

Sora may have "screwed"…rather, ditch, her thoughts at the time being, but those thoughts will come back later for sure. And if she thought that that hug with Tanner was the best that would happen between them, she was wrong. Oh…she's got it coming to her. She just doesn't know it.

* * *

Ooh, what's gonna happen to Sora?? And it seems she's got a little somethin' somethin' goin' on with Tanner, eh? Sorry this chapter is so short! I was planning to combine it with the next chapter, but it would have been way too long. And I don't know if this chapter is as satisfactory as the first one and I'm sorry. But I promise that the next few chapters will be as good as possible. Thanks for reading! Ciao!


	4. Handful of Surprises pt 1

Third chapter! I think you'll all like this one! It really shows how close the family it and how much they care for each other. And let's see what else…oh yea. I typed the title of the story for the last two chapters and it's getting a bit annoying, so now I'm only going to type the chapter's name. And with the oOoOoOo thing, if there's no one's POV after one of those o things, then that means it's just a story. No one's POV. Okay now, on with the story!

"Handful of Surprises pt. 1"

Tanner's POV

I ran down the stairs as quickly as I could. _Man, she probably thinks I'm some buffoon darting away after asking to go eat breakfast. I feel like an idiot trying to run down the stairs this quick. Ow…my cheek still hurts…she should use a hairbrush as a weapon if she ever becomes a Sky Knight. Hmmm…I wonder what she thought while we hugged. The reason why we did sure wasn't that big of a deal. I just got hit by her hairbrush that's all…she was pretty dramatic about the situation. I wonder why she cared so much…I'm glad she did though, because I care for her a lot too…woah…did I just think that? _I was a bit disappointed though. _What if she doesn't care for me? What if she just did that to convince me that she was really sorry and didn't mean to hurt me? Well…I know that she _was _sorry and that she _didn't _mean to hurt me, but still…WOAH!_

"OOF!" _What did I run into?..._ "Zoram! What are you doing at the bottom of the stairs?" I demanded.

"Oh! Uhh…sorry Tanner, I didn't mean to get in your way! I just wanted to make sure you were coming down and getting ready for the…you know…"

He whispered the last part that I could barely hear it, none the less understand what he was talking about. I gave him a what-the-heck-are-you-talking-about look. _Oh! Right! _Then I remembered.

"She's coming down pretty soon so we gotta get to our posts!" I told him.

"Oh good!" Zoram cheered as he clasped his hands together. "I thought something happened to you guys so I was gonna go check. Oh, and Jake's gonna give the signal. Okay, c'mon let's go!"

Speed walking, I followed Zoram to the kitchen_. Something did happen. _I smiled as I replayed what happened. _But let's just focus on what's gonna happen next! Sora's gonna love this!_

* * *

Sora's POV

_I thought I heard a thud downstairs, and then two people talking about getting to their posts…wait...oh no! _My heart began racing. _There isn't a Cyclonian invasion is there? Is that why Tanner was running downstairs?_ I dashed to my window and looked outside. There weren't any signs of a Cyclonian invasion. The day was just as beautiful as when I woke up. _Ummm…okay…maybe I'm just overeacting. __Screw this! Why am I still in here? I should be downstairs!_ So, I withdrew from my window and began walking down the stairs. I sensed something was…not normal. Something was not right. _Guess I'll find out soon enough._

* * *

_Aw man, it's getting cramped up in here! Why do I have to be under the sink with Gunner? Aerrow gets the whole area behind the island counter to himself! _Jake thought. _Zoram, Aurinn and Tanner get to go behind the couches, and Kaila and Enna get to be in the closet? The world is SO unfair!_

"Gunner, can you _please_ move over just a little bit? My leg is crampin' up!" Jake whined.

"Shut up, Jake! Sora's gonna hear you!" Gunner snapped back.

An utterly horrifying smell arose in the compartment beneath the sink.

"Hell, Gunner…you're going to give us away with that fart of yours!"

"Jake, when you gotta let it out, you gotta let it out. I've been holding it in for at least ten minutes! And at least it's not one of those loud ones!"

"It's a silent but deadly one Gunner! The worst ones!...What the hell did you eat this morning?"

"I didn't eat anything. We're having waffles for breakfast, remember?"

"What did you eat during the night?! I know you have midnight snacks!"

"...merb cabbage..."

"I knew it...Huh? Wait…I hear footsteps…She's coming into the kitchen! Be quiet!"

Sora's POV

I finally reached the kitchen and the smell of waffles was overwhelming now. Looking over to the cooking area I saw dozens and dozens of waffles stacked up on a plate. _Wow._

"Tanner? Hey, where are you? I hope you don't intend to eat all those waffles! You're gonna be soo out of shape!"

Silence.

"Tanner? Tanner?! You better not be on the ceiling again!" I craned my neck again, expecting him to be hanging from the ceiling, but no Tanner. _Where was everyone?_

* * *

Jake just couldn't stand it anymore. Gunner's fart reeked their hiding place, it was just too overwhelming. _I'll just open the door a tiny bit to get some air _he thought.

_Ahhh…now there we go! I swear, I'll always take advantage of fresh air from now on!_

Sora walked around the kitchen trying to find a note or some sort of clue as to why everybody was gone.

"Huh?" _Did…Did the cupboard door just open by itself right in front of me? _she thought.

Jake quickly realized that Sora was staring at the door. He thought quickly and hollered, "NOW!"

_WHAT? What's going on? Am I hearing voices? _Sora stared at the cupboard in complete awe. And out from no where…

"SURPRISE!!"

Sora's POV

_I could have sworn that the house was as dead silent as a graveyard. And I was still trying to figure out what was going on. Then one second later, the closet opens, the cupboard opens, three figures pop out from behind the couch, and something flew onto me from behind the island counter! I nearly jumped out of my skeleton and my heart raced so quickly that it was probably unhealthier than eating fast food day and night! But then I realized…it was just…my family…and it was Aerrow that jumped onto me...and confetti was flying all over the place, balloons popped out, and a shiny banner that sprung out from nowhere was hanging from the ceiling where Tanner would hang. And I just remembered today was…_

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY SORA!" everyone cheered.

_Today…was my birthday. I forgot all about it._

Everyone came from their "posts", to which I now knew was their hiding places, and did a group hug, with me in the center. We all laughed and well, we were all just glad that we were all here, whether or not it was just to celebrate my birthday.

"Happy Birthday Sora!" Aerrow grinned, still hanging onto me.

"Awww! Aerrow! Everyone!" I whimpered.

"You should have seen the look on your face! It was priceless!" Enna managed to laugh out.

"Yea, really! We should have taken pictures!" Zoram added.

Then Kaila butted in. "Oh, never mind the face! Happy Birthday, sweetheart!" She gave me another big hug and kissed me on the cheek.

"Alright Kaila, it's my turn," Aurinn said as he walked over to me and gave me another one of his bear hugs…the deadly one…"Ohh, my girl's finally fourteen! Ha…you're so old now!" he teased.

"Haha! Thanks a lot, Dad!" I said. Then putting Aerrow down, I turned to everyone else and announced, "And…WOW…thanks so so much to everyone one else too! This is…" Looking around at everyone, I continued, "This is great, guys. I really appreciate it. Thank you so much…" Tears began falling down my face. I remembered when we did a surprise party for Aerrow's ninth birthday party, and I thought I would be too old for one. _I never knew they cared so much._

"Hey, anything for our girl, Sora. You're part of the family," Tanner said as he laid one hand on my shoulder.

"Thanks, Tanner," I whispered. Not being able to help myself, I went ahead and hugged him and cried a bit more.

"Hey, enough with the sentimental feelings already! Sora, we decided to have waffles for breakfast for your birthday!" Jake interrupted.

Tanner gave a death glare at Jake. Jake moved his eyebrows up and down and mouthed, "Ooowee!" to which Tanner responded by rolling his eyes.

Lifting my head from Tanner's chest, I wiped my tears and stuttered, "O…okay…Let's have some waffles, then!" I declared.

Everyone hooted and took their seats at the table to get ready for breakfast. I, on the other hand, went over to the sink to wash my hands, and face too. So I washed my hands and splashed some water into my face. As I dried myself with a towel, a stench arose and met my nose.

_What is that SMELL?_

* * *

There you go! We end with Sora smelling Gunner's fart! Except she doesn't know that it's his fart haha! Don't tell her! Anyway next chapter will just continue about her birthday.


	5. Handful of Surprises pt 2

Fourth chapter! Continuing on with the story!

Sora's POV

_Everything went great today. This morning I got to spend a hugging moment with Tanner. Then I had a surprise party and had tons of waffles for breakfast. This afternoon we hung around the house, played games, and had ice cream cake. And now, Dad said that he and everyone else had a surprise for me right now, but I had to close my eyes for a bit… Gees…there's been tons of surprises already, what more is there?_

"Okay Sora! You can open your eyes now!" Gunner ringed.

_I opened my eyes, and right there in front of me, was a brand new skimmer. And not only that, I got a crystal-powered staff also. It was too good to be true…I was now able to REALLY start training to be a Sky Knight. Oh my gosh...this is so great…_I stared at the gifts I received from everyone. I was completely mesmerized with the skimmer and staff.

"It's an Air Skimmer! Gunner prepared the model, Jake got the parts, Zoram put it together, and Aerrow picked the color! It was Enna's idea to get you a crystal-powered staff, and your mother and I provided the money for it all," Aurinn beamed. Apparently, he was satisfied with my reaction. "Do you like it?"

Snapping out of my shock, I nearly shouted, "YES DAD YES! Oh my gosh, I don't know how to thank you all! This is all so great! I can't believe you guys did all this for me! First the surprise party and waffles! Then the ice cream cake! And now this?..." I shook my head. "You guys are so great…I'll never be able to thank you enough! Thank you…"

"We all love you very much Sora!" Aerrow piped.

"Aww…Aerrow…" I whimpered as I scooped him up into my arms. A tear ran down my face.

"Sora, don't cry! You're a big girl now!" Aerrow pointed out.

"You're right, Aerrow. No more crying today," I declared, putting him down and standing up straighter. "Everyone…thank you. You all mean so much to me! And this all means so much to me! Again…thank you, everyone. I'm really grateful..."

"Enough with the thanking, we all know that you really appreciate this all, Sora! Who wouldn't? You're a great kid!" Jake affirmed. "But there's one more thing."

"One more thing?! You guys crazy or something? I've had tons of surprises today already? What more is there?" I laughed, the thought of 'one more thing' ringing as ridiculous in my head.

"Yep one more thing," Tanner said, stepping out from behind everyone else.

"Tanner!" I ran over to him and gave him a loving hug. "What is it now?"

"Well, actually, two more things," he said, matter-of-factly.

Surprised, (as if I wasn't enough already), I managed to squeak out, "WHAT? First one, now two?!"

"Haha, you bet," he chuckled.

"You better get to it because the second thing is going to take all night," Gunner interrupted.

_What?...All…night? _I tried not to think of any bad ideas.

"Okay, okay! Calm down, Gunner!" Tanner said. Turning to look at me, he gulped and put his hands on my shoulders. _He seems really nervous…I wonder why…_

"Alright…uhh…Sora, you've now got a skimmer and a weapon, right?" he asked.

I nodded my head slowly, anticipating what would come next.

"Well, since you've now got those things, I talked to your dad about training you on the skimmer, and with your weapon so you still wouldn't have to go to the academy…"

_Wow…he asked Dad about training me? That's really thoughtful of him…he was willing to spend some of his time to train me…wow…but…wait…he talked about it with Dad, so what was the result?_

Tanner continued, "…and he said 'yes'."

My eyes widened. _Wow!..._

Pause.

Tanner tilted his head. "Umm…is that okay with you?"

"Oh…YEA! Yes yes! Of course! Gees, thank you so much, Tanner!" Then turning to my dad, "Thanks so much, Dad!" And then I turned back to Tanner, "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I love you!" _Oh crap!_

Everyone gave me a sideways glance, everyone but Tanner. He seemed occupied with my last sentence…or…at least he seemed to be.

Realizing that my secret might have been spewed out to everyone, I stuttered, "I mean…uhh…I'd…love it!" My eyes darted from corner to corner. "I'd love training with you, Tanner!"

"Oh…okay…okay!" he replied. _He…looked sad for a bit there…does that mean he…no…there's no way… but…oh…he's…smiling now…I guess he's okay…but still…_

"Great! Then you'll love the next thing!" he chirped.

Tanner kneeled down and took my hand. My eyes widened even larger. _What's going on? He's not proposing to me, is he?! He better not be! _I glanced at Mom and Dad and everyone else. They seemed okay with what was going on, they were smiling. I guess they knew _what_ was going on too.

"Sora, I'd be…really…happy…if you would go out with me…to Terra Neon tonight…to celebrate your 14th birthday…" Tanner stammered.

_"_Awww!" everyone teased.

_Wow! He…he actually asked me out! Wait…he just said to celebrate my birthday…OH WHO CARES?! I'll be spending the rest of the night with him at Terra Neon!!_

"Awww! Tanner!" I dropped down to my knees and gave him yet another hug. "You're so silly! You don't have to be all formal like that! And of course I'll go out with you!"

"R-really?"

"Duh! What am I supposed to say? No? That'd be stupid!"

"O…okay! Then, we better…uhh…get ready then."

"Sounds good! I'll ride on my skimmer for the first time!" _I hope I don't crash…_

* * *

Sora's POV (again)

_So many things happened…there were so many surprises…I can't believe it! And now I'm going to Terra Neon and spending the night there with Tanner! This day has been so great, and I owe it to everyone. _

While Tanner was getting his skimmer ready, I hugged and said goodbye and thank you to everyone…again. _I just couldn't thank everyone enough._

"Ready?" he asked.

"Ready as I'll ever be," I smiled.

"Okay. Catcha later everyone! Let's go!"

We flew off into the night and into the dark blue sky. Completely excited and stoked, I was shaking in my skimmer. _I've never ridden a real skimmer before, and this is nothing like the fake ones at the academy. At least I have an idea on how to fly one. OH! That's right! I won't be going to the academy anymore! I'll be training with Tanner from now on! Wow!..._It was beautiful at night, with the stars shining above us, and terras' lights below us. The wind was blowing in our faces, and the moon was shining grandly. _I know it's not daytime, but this has GOT to be what Dad feels each time he flies! It's such a great feeling! _I leaned my head back so the wind would blow all over my face and neck. It was wonderful. And as I did so, I got a peek of Tanner. _Huh? Was he staring at me?_ But as soon as I glanced at him, he faced forward.

"Umm...enjoying yourself?" he asked.

"Yea! Of course! It feels really great! Is it like this every time you guys do this? "

He frowned. "Not when we fight against the Cyclonians and other baddies."

"Oh…I see…"

"But it's okay. Tonight is just to relax, and have fun. So of course I feel great," he added.

I grinned. "Okay then."

_He seemed pretty happy at the moment. I'm glad he was happy. I'm happy! Who wouldn't be? Terra Neon's gonna be awesome! And Tanner's gonna be there with me! How could it get any better?_

"Hey! There it is! Terra Neon! Let's land over there!" he pointed.

I nodded my head and followed him to the landing strip.

_Seriously, how COULD this get any better?_

* * *

And there you go! What's gonna happen at Terra Neon? Fun and games of course! But something else is coming, both of their ways! Ooooh!

Sorry, this part of the story is probably dragging out a lot. But I have a good reason for it! Everyone excluding Sora, Aerrow, and Tanner, won't be in the rest of the story after a certain point. And believe me, the story's got a long way to go. So if you're ever wondering if the story's going to end soon, you're very very wrong. Anyway, I just wanted to give Aurinn, Kaila, Jake, Enna, Zoram, and Gunner a fairly good sized part in the story. Moving on, the next chapter will be about how everything went at Terra Neon. The one after that will be about Tanner training Sora and Aerrow wanting to be trained, but he's supposedly too young. And THEN I believe the one after that is when chaos hits, and you'll see. Thanks for reading!


	6. What Happened at Terra Neon

* * *

Hey everyone! Sorry I haven't updated for awhile, well, a few days, big deal haha! But anyway, here's the next chapter. I think it's a bit interesting. You'll see in the end. Okay here we go! On with the story!

"What Happened at Terra Neon"

Sora's POV

_Ohhh…bleh…I feel really dizzy…and sick…urgh…can't believe that he made me go on that ride…_It was called the Sky Shark, obviously named after the bloody animal itself. Corkscrews, loops, and who knows what else, made up the ride. There was absolutely not one time where your car was shaking vigorously or the ride wouldn't slow down, except for at the end. At least that's how I felt. Guess I'm not the extreme roller coaster type. The moderate ones were my friends, the ones I was okay with. Tanner, of course, was the wild type, and he left the ride unaffected…somehow…someway…he was perfectly fine. _Ow, my stomach._

"Hey, are you alright?" the wild roller coaster boy asked.

"Huh? Oh. Well, I'm a bit sick. My stomach is disturbed. The last ride was kinda extreme for me," I replied sheepishly.

"Oh! Hey! That's okay. I shouldn't have made you go on it," he said, rubbing the back of his neck. "You were really brave though!" he pointed out.

"I…guess…"

"Let's go get you some water then."

"Okay."

We strolled over to a snack booth and bought some water to calm my stomach. Tanner found an empty table and we sat down so I could drink my bottle of water. After that, I felt quite relieved. The pain in my stomach decreased and the dizziness left my head.

"You feel better now?"

Nodding my head, I answered, "Yea. A lot better. Thanks."

"No problem. You'll have to go on it more though. When we start training you on your skimmer, the Sky Shark is nothing compared to the stunts you gotta learn," he grinned.

My eyes widened. "Are you serious? You're kidding me right?"

"I suggest we start flying tomorrow then. You're gonna want to get used to the things we're gonna do."

My mouth dropped open and my eyes widened even more.

"Haha! Just kidding! I used to get sick after riding roller coasters too, but flying on a skimmer is way different. Don't panic. There's nothing to worry about," he assured me.

I hit him with an empty (unfortunately) water bottle. "Tanner!"

"Hahaha! Sorry, I just couldn't help letting a good joke waste away. But what are we doing here? You finished your water, so let's keep walking around," he said.

And we did. We wandered around the bright and colorful terra, keeping off the rides for awhile to prevent any more sickness coming to me again. Tanner and I conversed as we walked, and joked around like any teenager would. Sometimes we made fun of people playing the various games, and hastily retreated from the angry victims. At one point, Tanner cracked such a bad joke at this one guy that was throwing eggs at targets. The guy whipped his head around to glare directly at Tanner and he chucked all the eggs in his bucket at him. It was amusing, and truly hysterical. You don't get to see Tanner covered in eggs that often.

"Hahaha! That one guy got you so bad! You should have seen it coming!" I guffawed.

Still wiping the slimy substance from his face and hair, he snickered, "It was a pretty good joke though, I have to say."

Still laughing, I said, "I have to agree. Where did you that joke anyway?"

"Well, you see, it didn't actually start out as a joke, intentionally. It really began when Jake and I…"

And we continued chatting about the joke and other assorted things.

* * *

Tanner's POV

_Sora's sure a big talker. Who else talks about wearing their mom's underwear on their head when they were younger? And I never knew Gunner called her a turd. That's actually pretty crafty. Hmmm…well at least she shares her thoughts with me. I'm pretty happy with that. Woah…are those Talons over there? What are they doing here? Hmmm…_I rubbed my hands together and began making some plans.

"Oh yea! That was pretty funny, and-…Tanner what are you doing?"

I smirked. "See those Talons over there? I'm thinking about playing a prank on them."

"What? Wouldn't that be dangerous though? I mean, who knows why they are here? What if…it's some sort of a trap for someone else and then you get into it?"

"Ahh…don't worry! C'mon it'll be fun!"

She hesitated for a bit.

"C'mon pleaaaaase?!"

"Umm…okay…I…guess. But…what if you get hurt?"

Grinning, I said, "Not Tanner of the Storm Hawks."

* * *

Sora's POV

_I just couldn't believe it…I knew I shouldn't have agreed with him! I just knew it! Why did he plan THIS of all things? _We kept running away from the furious Talons, darting through the crowds. Luckily, the distance grew larger and larger.

"Tanner you are INSANE!" I shouted. "Why did you have go and do that? Couldn't you have done something less extreme?"

He kept roaring with laughter. It seemed he was still laughing since he played his trick. If I weren't there to support him, he would have been rolling on the floor, still laughing, but the Talons would have beaten him up.

"Oh my gosh….oh my gosh, that was AWESOME! AHAHAHAHA!" he continued laughing.

_Boys…_

Still sprinting as fast as we could, making our way through the crowds, we finally and thankfully found a small space between a few tents where we could probably squeeze in and avoid the Talons that were chasing us. So we did squeeze in there, single-file. And it so happened that the space between the tents was sort of like a trail, and it led out to the perimeter of the terra, where there was more open space, but there were trees scattered about. We shuffled over to that area and were finally relieved. We were finally free of the angry Talons. Tanner stood in the center of a circle of trees while I leaned my back against one of those trees.

"WOOH! THAT WAS AWESOME!" Tanner shouted, punching his fists through the air.

I gave out a little giggle. "Well…I guess so…"

"See? I told you it'd be fun! It was, wasn't it?"

"I suppose."

"Alright! See, that's the Sora I know. The one with a wild side," he winked.

I smiled, shaking my head and rolling my eyes. Then I crossed my arms. "Since when do you make Talons look at a person's feet to check for a 'rare crystal', then have that person fart on them, then chuck pies at the Talons?" I asked.

"Hahahaha! If only that could happen every day," he grinned.

"Yea, if _only_," I repeated.

Pause.

"You know, I had fun tonight. And it's all thanks to you Tanner."

"Oh hey! No problem! I'm sure any guy would do this for you."

"What? Nah…and even if any guy _wanted_ to, I wouldn't go out with them. Just you."

His eyebrows rose. "Oh really? Are you saying something?"

Realizing what I _did_ say, I decided to just go along, and maybe just be a little playful. "Maaaaaaybe. And why do you think I would go with you and not anyone else?" _Ooooh, what now?_

"Because I'm a stunning guy," he joshed.

I really couldn't do anything else but laugh. It was a pretty good comeback though. And I decided to take the conversation up a notch.

"Really? Well I'm glad you think so," I irked. _Hehehe what now?_

He smirked. _Uh oh, what's he got up his sleeve now? _"Do you think I'm a stunning guy?"

I was indeed stuck now. If I told him "yes" then I would just have to submit to him, which I don't want to do. But if I said "no" then he would either take it that I was trying to be mean, or that it was a mean joke, which I don't want him to think. _I guess I'll just try this._

"Do I think so? No I don't think so…" _Hehehe._

Tanner seemed a bit surprised, and maybe a little…hurt.

"But I know so," I grinned.

What's it like feeling surprised and hurt, then surprised again and happy in the span of seven seconds?

He just smiled after.

"Gotcha," I winked.

"You sure did," he admitted.

"Oh Tanner! I'd never do anything to hurt you like that!" I said as I went up to give him an assuring embrace. "Not emotionally at least," I added, remembering the time I whacked him with the hairbrush.

"Haha, okay."

I broke the hug, but he still held me, as if he didn't want the hug to stop.

* * *

_I wonder what he's thinking…_

_I wonder what she's thinking…_

_He's got such a handsome face…whoever his girl's gonna be is gonna be lucky!_

_Sora's eyes are so…beautiful. Such a deep and pretty blue._

The two kept gazing into each other's eyes as merry thoughts flew through their heads. After about let's say…ten seconds of this, their heads inched closer and closer to each other, and their lips finally met. One of Tanner's hands was on Sora's head, and the other on her back. Sora's arms were looped around Tanner's neck, her hands caressing his hair.

It was an exotic and romantic night for both of them. The surrounding trees swayed calmly around them with a gentle breeze. The dark blue sky, clear and cloudless and speckled with millions of stars, hovered above them with majesty. The bright moon splashed it's silver rays onto the two lovers as they kissed, before the kissed, after they kissed, and even before they were there in that area!

Finally, after what seemed like a lifetime, they pulled apart and took in some air. Sora's cheeks were flushed as well as Tanner's. Each contemplated over whether they should confess their love to the other. And being the man Tanner was, he went first, though hesitantly.

"Sora, I, uh….I've been meaning to say this, and never really gotten the chance to since I've always been afraid of the outcome…but…I…I love you…"

_Wow! He said he loves me! I never would have guessed! Oh wow!_

_Oh no…what if she doesn't love me back? What is she going to say??_

After a moment's pause, she giggled and smiled. "I love you too, Tanner."

_Oh! She does love me back! Thank you thank you thank you! And…how…how did she say that so smoothly and simply??_

"You were really brave to say it first Tanner. And I'm glad you did, otherwise I probably wouldn't have said so either."

_Oh that's why…because I went first…_He smiled. _I guess I was brave._

And so after confessing one's love for the other, Tanner held his beloved in his arms, and Sora just snuggled with him, feeling safe and loved. The two looked up into the sky, and they knew they were meant for each other, and they knew that their love was grander than the teeming amount of stars.

The End

* * *

Applause arose from the living room and everyone got up from the couch to stretch.

Sora shook her head and rolled her eyes as she always did. "I seriously can't believe you guys followed us around and video taped us!"

"Hey it was worth it," Jake yawned.

"Hehe, yea we couldn't just stand by at home! We had to do it!" Gunner commented.

"And what was with the narrating?" Tanner asked incredulously.

"We had to! Don't you think the video was a lot better with the narrating?" Enna said.

Sora speculated, "The narrating was okay I suppose, but the voice was kinda cheesy. Who did the voice?"

"Zoram," everyone answered.

Sora expected that answer. "That explains it. Sorry, Zoram."

"You guys are so immature," Tanner mentioned. He laid down on one of the couches and put his hands behind his hands and proceeded to take a nap.

"Have Mom and Dad seen this?" I asked.

The squad shook their heads.

"They didn't want to see it, but they know about _it_," Enna enunciated.

"About what?" Tanner opened one eye.

"You guys," Jake said, pointing an index finger at Tanner, a middle finger at Sora, and then closing the two fingers together. "But they're okay with it."

Tanner turned over on his stomach, groaned, and buried his head under a pillow.

Sora sat down next to him on the couch and rubbed his arm while everyone else laughed.

Jake decided to pull more jokes. "So when's the next time you guys are going out? We gotta get a video of that one!"

"Shut up!" Sora chucked a bucket of popcorn at Jake.

"Hey! Hey! I'm just joking!" he put his hands up.

Sora shook her head again once more, then patted Tanner's back. "We all better get some sleep now. You guys have some sort of mission to do, right?"

The squad nodded their heads.

"And I need to continue my training with Tanner, which means me and you," she patted the pillow Tanner's head was under, "need to get some sleep also."

Tanner muttered something unclearly.

So everyone began heading over to their bedrooms for the night to get some sleep. Jake and Tanner's room were right next to each other, so they walked with each other back to their rooms.

"Tanner's got a girlfriend, Tanner's got a girlfriend," Jake teased.

"Jake, shut up!" Tanner entered his room and closed the door.

Jake, on the other hand, didn't go into his room quite yet, but he stood outside Tanner's room.

"Hey, when IS the next time you guys are going out?" Jake asked, yet again.

"Goodnight, Jake!"

"No really. I've had some girls drooling over me before because of the cool things I did. I could teach you some of my tricks and Sora will be all over you!"

"JAKE! I don't WANT Sora to drool over me! GOODNIGHT!"

"You guys should go to Terra Tropica! You could go swimming, and then you could show her that you've got a nice stomach!"

The door opened.

"Jake…I don't want to impress Sora or do anything more than I already have, and I don't WANT to show her my stomach. I know she takes me exactly the way I am, and I take her the same way she is. I don't want anything to change…NOW GOODNIGHT!" Tanner slammed the door in Jake's face.

"Suit yourself then. But you'll soon be begging to me on how to-"

"JAKE I SAID GOODNIGHT!"

Jake just laughed. A good joke was always there for him.

* * *

And there you guys go! It was long, I admit, but I've got to say, I'm pretty satisfied with this chapter. Anyways, the next one is when chaos turns, and probably the last one Aurinn, Kaila, Jake, Gunner, Zoram, and Enna are in, so get ready to say goodbye to them, and hello to the new Storm Hawks! (in the coming chapters.)


	7. Friends in the Rain

Okay…I'm really really sorry about this! Last time I said that the next chapter would be when 'chaos hits' a.k.a. Tanner betrays everyone. But then, I thought, where the heck am I going to put Radarr in all of this? And Aerrow's gotta have a like a really strong bond with him, so he needs to know him for a good while. So I just decided to put in this little chapter just for Aerrow and Radarr. The night everyone watched the movie it was raining, and notice that Aerrow wasn't in that chapter. So where was he? This chapter explains it. And one thing's for sure, Radarr DOES NOT SQUEAK! So instead of _squeak_ I'm going to put _rack. _It sounds like that to me so yea. Once again I apologize!

"Friends in the Rain"

Aerrow's POV

_Everyone gets to watch a movie tonight, but not me. Why? They said it was inappropriate for my age…but what is so inappropriate about it though? And they also said I was too young. Oh well…Gees it's raining hard. _I pulled the covers closer to my head. _Aw, man. I can't sleep…not when the rain's pouring hard and everyone's watching a movie. _

Despite my 'bedtime hour', I got up and sneakily tip-toed downstairs, and headed for the back door. _I'm just going to go outside and get some fresh air. _The door was a bit creaky, so I again, sneakily tip-toed, but this time, I went to the kitchen. It was probably the most dangerous 'mission' I've gone on, because the kitchen was right beside the living room, in which everyone was watching the movie. It seemed that they were watching something that took place at Terra Neon. _What the…is that Tanner and Sora throwing pies at Talons?? _I shook my head. The 'movie' must have been a video of them being at Terra Neon. _Oh well…_

Looking for stuff to oil the door was nerve wrecking. I had no clue where the stuff was, but I knew it was in the kitchen somewhere, because I've seen Mom use it. _AHAH! Here it is!_

The door was finally oiled, and I was free to go outside without anyone noticing. _Wow…_The rain was pouring hard, and in gallons of gallons of water. I sat down on the porch and put my arms around my legs and my head on my knees.

_Huh? What's that over there? _Something moved in the bushes. Something small. _Hmm…_it made a sound and the bushes moved again. _The poor thing in the rain…it must be freezing._ I didn't care if I got soaked, but I did care that the animal was safe. So I ran over to the bushes and started cooing the animal out of its hiding place.

"Hey little fella, why don't you come out? You can come with me, out of this rain," I reasoned.

_Rack. _The small creature poked its head out. It was a…a…I didn't know what it was…but it was sure cute!

"OH! You're so small! You must be freezing out here! C'mon! I'll bring you inside!" I put my arms out.

The creature hopped onto my arms, and crawled up onto my shoulder, then buried his head in my neck.

"O…kay."

* * *

Aerrow's POV

We snuck back into the house, quite successfully, and I brought the creature up to my room. We dried off, and I put some new pajamas on, and I gave the creature a blanket to wrap around himself.

_Rack. _The animal rubbed its belly.

"Oh, you're hungry?" I asked.

He shook his head.

"Alright, I'll try to sneak some food up here."

Intentionally, the animal was supposed to stay in my room, to avoid causing any trouble, as if I wasn't in any already. I knew Mom would get freaked out, but maybe everyone else would understand. But without my consent, the animal just hopped on my shoulder and gave me a wide smile.

"You have to stay in here!"

_Rack. _It shook its head.

"Fine."

* * *

Aerrow's POV

We snuck downstairs and tip-toed down the hallway to the kitchen…again…

for me. It was pretty quiet, so I assumed that everyone already went in for the night. One thing for sure was that I didn't know that I was wrong.

_RACK! _The animal's ears rose and he tapped me vigorously on the shoulder. It then pointed a finger toward the other side of the hall.

Quickly, I turned my head, and I didn't see anything. Nothing at all. It was dark, but my eyes had already adjusted, but I still didn't see anything.

"Hey! Don't go and scare me like that! There was nothing down there!" I scolded.

_RACK RACK! _He still continued to point his finger down the other side of the hall.

_What is he pointing at? There's nothing down there! Wait…I hear footsteps…_

_UH OH! Umm…where should I hide?_

I quickly dropped to the ground and rolled under a table in the hallway. THEN, I saw what the animal was pointing at. Tanner and Jake came from a different part of the house and were walking back to their rooms.

Turning my head toward the creature on my shoulder, I whispered, "You could hear them from all the way heck over there?"

_Rack! _A large grin was plastered on his face.

"No wonder why you have such long ears," I teased.

* * *

Aerrow's POV

After we returned from getting some food from the kitchen, the animal and I were feasting on chips with peanut butter and whip cream. It felt great to have a midnight snack with someone.

"So…I still can't believe you heard them from all the way down the hall into a totally different room!"

_Rack!_

"It's amazing!"

_Rack rack!_

"Are you enjoying yourself? It's good to be out of the rain, huh?"

_Rack rack! _It nodded its head.

"So…where do you plan to head after the rain stops? You have a plan right?"

_I wasn't going to keep him just like that. He was a free animal. He had to live in his own natural habitat, if Terra Sardonia WAS his natural habitat. I didn't want to suppress him from freedom._

_Rack…_It's ears flopped down and all the joy and happiness drained out of him.

_Oh no…_

"You….you don't have a home…do you? You don't have anywhere to go, huh?"

He shook his head, looking down at his feet.

_Wait a minute…_

"Hey…do ya wanna stay with me?"

_RACK! _He nodded his head very quickly. Then he jumped up and squeezed me tightly around the neck.

A grin was now plastered on MY face. I was going to have a friend stay around for a loooong while. A friend to have by my side always and forever. And that was something I've been dreaming of since…since….a long time.

"We're gonna be the best of all buddies," I smiled.

_Rack! _He smiled too.

"And since we're going to be together for awhile, I gotta call you something. You have a name don't you?"

_Rack?_ He tilted his head in a questioning manner.

"You…don't have a name either?"

_Rack…_

_Nope…_

"O…kay…hey…would it be okay if I could name you?"

_Rack! _His face lightened up.

"Haha okay…well let's see…I first saw you in the bushes…I don't think I should call you Bush…"

_Bleh!_ He stuck his tongue out.

"It was raining…hard…definitely not Rain…I think that's a girl name."

He shook his head.

"We ate chips and peanut butter and whip cream together. Hmm…I don't really want to call you Chip or Peanut, or…Whip?..."

He shook his head again.

I thought hard. The name had to be something good…something that would remind us both of how close we were together.

"Hey…what about Radarr?"

_Rack!_

"You helped me avoid trouble downstairs with your amazing ears, so I wouldn't get caught by Tanner or Jake! You detected them from the hall to the other room that was really far away!"

_Rack! _He clapped his hands together and smiled.

"Radarr. I like it…Radarr."

_Rack!_

* * *

Aerrow's POV

We slept well that night. After we finished our snack, we brushed our teeth, me using my own toothbrush, and Radarr using an extra one. After THAT, we jumped into my bed and pulled the covers. Radarr slept in between my arm and the side of my body, just making himself at home.

"It's gonna be awhile, huh, Radarr?"

_Rack._

"You know…My dad's a sky knight. And I got an awesome mom and sister. And then my dad's whole squadron is like my family, too. They're all really awesome. You can meet 'em tomorrow."

_Rack! _I could tell he was excited to meet them all.

"Haha! Well, now I've got another family member."

_Rack! _Radarr looked at me with a slight smile.

"Welcome to the family."

_Rack! _He hugged the side of my body tightly.

"Haha! I'm glad we met too!"

* * *

Well, there you all go! Hope you liked this chapter! I thought it was pretty good. But anyway, try Fritos with peanut butter and whip cream. It's super good! My brother and I tried it for the first time, and it was like…heaven! Anyway, next chapter is going to be a few months after Radarr came. Everyone welcomed him into the family, with a bit of fidgeting from Mom, but they eventually clicked. Anyway, I promise next chapter will be when things turn around. Okay, catcha all later!


	8. Things Turn Around

Okay guys! Here's the next chapter! Radarr has been accepted into the family. Also, it's been a few months! But anywho, here we go.

"Things Turn Around"

Sora's POV

It was early in the morning when I woke up…as usual. Everyone went along their business…as usual. Mom was making breakfast…as usual. Dad and his squadron were getting ready to leave for their missions...as usual. Aerrow and Radarr playing hide and seek…as usual. Tanner was still asleep…as usual. And I was just getting ready to train with Tanner for the day…as usual. Everything was going as usual. It was just another normal day.

I walked downstairs to the kitchen in a pretty good mood. The mornings were nice for me, I was a morning person. The sun's rays were spread about the house, shining gloriously. And the birds chirping their songs, it was just so relaxing.

"Morning, Mom!" I chirped.

"Oh, well good morning, Sora," Mom greeted back. She handed me a plate with fresh pancakes and eggs.

"Did everyone eat breakfast already? Wow, this looks good!"

"Yes, they did. It's amazing how all of them can get up SO early, and yet Tanner is still in bed. That boy must have a hard time catching up with the team before he began training you."

I gave a little giggle. "Yea…maybe Dad wanted to give him a break."

"Yes, perhaps. Well, you keep eating your breakfast. I need to go and get Aerrow some new shoes and Radarr a new toothbrush. They've both completely worn out their things. Make sure they don't get into any trouble."

"Okay, sure thing. See you later, Mom. Thanks for breakfast!"

"You're welcome, dear," she said, as she opened the door to exit the house.

"I love you, Mom."

She turned around with a surprised expression on her face. She didn't get to hear that phrase a lot from me, especially since she was always the one who said it first.

"I love you too, Sora," she said back.

"I know," I smiled.

She nodded her head solemnly and embarked to get Aerrow's new shoes and Radarr's new toothbrush.

I sat there, with a fork in my hand, just staring at the door. For some reason I couldn't explain, I had a feeling that I'd never see her again. _No! That's ridiculous, Sora! What are you thinking you crazy buffoon? You're gonna see Mom again!_

"Of course I will," I mumbled to myself.

* * *

Sora's POV

_Okay! Where is he?? He's somewhere here, I know it!_

"Show yourself! Hiding isn't going to do you any good!" I shouted.

"Finally I hear a different phrase than 'Come out and fight like a man!'"

"Then why don't you do so?"

"Okay! You better watch yourself!"

"Same to you!"

_Thud._

"Oww…" Tanner mumbled.

"Tanner what was THAT? How do you survive in a squadron if you can't even balance yourself in a tree?"

"There was a bird nest up there," he whined.

"Bird nest, or no bird nest, a good member of a squadron should have balance, and if they DO fall out of a tree they shouldn't land head over heels!" I pointed out.

He smiled. "I'm head over heels for you."

A deep red blush crept onto my face. "Tanner, shut up," I teased.

"Okay," he did a flip and was now in position to have a ground duel.

"Get ready to get your ass kicked," I declared, holding my staff expertly.

"We'll see about that!" he snapped back.

The ground duel was intense. Our weapons clanged and neither of us grew tired…yet. We battled the other with full concentration, always focusing on the opponent, and nothing else. That was the key to winning a battle. I heard Tanner say that the first day he trained me.

"_In order to grasp victory, you must always focus on the opponent, and nothing else," Tanner spoke._

* * *

Aerrow's POV

My breakfast plate was cleaned pretty well, I have to say. Radarr's was too. _Mom makes the best breakfast. I wonder where she is? I'll go and ask Sora. _

"C'mon, Radarr, let's go outside," I said.

_Rack. _He jumped from his chair onto my shoulder.

We went outside and my eyes lay upon an intense battle between Sora and Tanner. _Daaaaang…Sora's getting good. Tanner trained her pretty well then. _Despite their battle, I decided to just ask Sora my question.

"Hey, Sora! Where's Mom?" I shouted.

"What? AHHHHHH!"

_Thud._

_I've never actually seen Sora crash to the ground before…that was pretty cool! Tanner's still probably better at combating. _

Tanner looked at my sister and said, "You GOTTA focus on the opp-"

"Opponent and nothing else!" Sora cut Tanner off. "Yes, I know, Tanner. But little squirt over there wants to know where Mom is, so I gotta tell him."

"Okay." Tanner pulled Sora up and they walked over to me.

_Rack. _Radarr gave them a little wave.

"Hey Radarr, how's it going?" Tanner asked, giving him a little pat on the head.

_Rack._

"Hey there, Radarr," Sora greeted, giving him a cracker. _Where'd she get that from?_

"So…what was it that you asked me, Aerrow?" Sora questioned.

"Oh, I was just wondering where Mom was," I replied.

"She went to get you and Radarr some new stuff. Like shoes and toothbrushes."

"Oh, okay. I wanted to thank her for breakfast. She makes the best pancakes. Thanks, Sora."

"Mmmhmm."

"Your Mom DOES make the pancakes, Aerrow," Tanner winked.

"Tell her that," I said. "C'mon, Radarr. Let's go play something."

* * *

Tanner's POV

"Gees…Sora. You're…getting too…good. I trained…you…too…well," I breathed heavily.

"Thanks for the comment. Told you I'd kick your ass," she replied.

"Haha, yea. But the first time when Aerrow came out, I beat you."

"Yea…that wasn't fair."

Sora and I just finished another ground duel, about the fifth one, and except for that one time, she beat me in all of them. _I was just going easy on her._

_Crackle crackle. _Static came over my radio, then…

"Tanner! Tanner! This is Aurinn! Tanner! Are you there?" There was a massive amount of worry in his voice.

_What?_

I ran over to my radio and reported back.

"This is Tanner! Yea, I'm here! What's wrong, Aurinn?"

"Tanner, you've got to meet up with us now. Cyclonia is going to begin an invasion…and we need to stop it. All the sky knights and their squadrons are going, and we need you to be here."

_Oh no…no no no…hell no! Not now! SHIT!_

Aurinn had more news…worse news…

"…And…the Talons…they…they took Kaila…"

_WHAT? NO!_

"DAMN IT!" I slammed my fist on the dashboard.

"Tanner we need you now! So get ready, Zoram is going to pick you up."

* * *

Sora's POV

Everything that passed my ears was just too horrible of information. There was just NO way that Mom was taken. And now Cyclonia was going to start an invasion? _No…no…NO!_

Tanner looked over to me, his face was pale.

"Tanner…this…this can't be happening…" I began to cry.

He ran over to me and held me in his arms.

"Sora…Sora listen to me…something…something's going to happen. And…I can't promise anything. But listen to me," he held my head in his hand.

I cut him off. "Tanner…please…please look after yourself! If anything happens to you…I…I…"

"Sora…I'm so sorry…but…I must go now! I have to…I have to go…but…listen… no matter what…I'll never leave you…and…I'll always…ALWAYS love you…till the end of time."

His thumb wiped a tear off my face. I held his hand. This might be the last time we see each other.

"I…I'll always love you too, Tanner…"

He held my head and gave me a quick kiss on the lips, let go, looked at me in the eyes once more.

Zoram finally came and Tanner let go of me and went off with Zoram.

I stood there, and watched him go off into the sky, into war, into who knows what? _Good luck everyone…please be safe…I have to warn Aerrow._

* * *

Tanner's POV

_No…no…this can't be happening…no…DAMN IT WHY NOW??_

Of all times, it had to happen now. Cyclonia was going to being its invasion, and for two reasons. One, to take control of the Atmos, and two, to get rid of all the sky knights and their squadrons. And not only just the sky knights, but their families, too. And that meant Kaila, Aerrow and Sora. _Sora…_and how did I know this? I knew…because I, myself…was part of Cyclonia's plan. Cyclonis' plan. That bitch…but…there was something else that was part of her plan. If I didn't want Aerrow and Sora to get killed, then I had to betray the Storm Hawks…the people that took me in…that took care of me…that treated me as their family…the people that I was close to…

I saw my squad up ahead, with Aurinn in the lead.

"About time you got here! Everyone else already began to enter Cyclonia! We're the last ones!" Jake yelled.

"Sorry, I…got held up," I said. "And Zoram's a slow driver," I added

"Am not!" he snapped back.

"Enough with the arguing, Tanner hurry up and hop on my skimmer. I'm going to need my co-pilot for this mission," Aurinn stated.

"Yea." I replied.

As we headed toward Cyclonia, red clouds began to surround us. Blood red clouds.

* * *

Sora's POV

"Aerrow! Aerrow, where are you?" I called out.

"Psst! I'm over here! But don't give me away! Radarr's trying to find me!"

"Aerrow this is serious! I dragged him out from under the couch. "Radarr! Come over here! I need to talk to you, both."

_Rack? _His head popped up from behind the TV. He came over and jumped onto Aerrow's shoulder, like he always did.

"Sora, what's wrong?" Aerrow asked, fear starting to creep onto his face.

"Aerrow…I…" I took a deep breath, trying not to cry. "There's…there's… Cyclonia is launching an invasion…" my voice began breaking. "Everyone's going…to try to stop it...Jake…Zoram…Enna…Gunner…Dad…Tanner…and…and they took Mom!"

I fell to the ground on my knees and covered my face. Aerrow didn't know how to take this either, as far as I could tell. He stood there, not knowing what to do. He was so young, and I began to regret that I told him what I did. But he understood what was going on, and he kneeled down beside me and gave me a reassuring embrace, and patting me on the back. Radarr doing the same.

"They took Mom?" he whispered.

I could only nod my head.

"Sora…I…I don't know what to do…and I don't know what will happen. We just…have to wait…and I know you're really upset about everything…I am too…but we can't do anything about it…we just gotta be patient and wait around for what comes."

I looked up. "Aerrow? Did…did you just say that? I…"

He just smiled…but with sadness…

_He has so much hope and faith in him…just like Dad always does…they both just wait and hope for the best…_

We stayed there on the ground, eventually falling asleep in the house. Aerrow was right, we didn't know what would happen…and we should just wait around for what comes. We couldn't do anything about it. Nothing at all. So there we slept together, Aerrow, Radarr, and I, all huddled up on the ground, waiting.

"…_but we can't do anything about it…we just gotta be patient and wait around for what comes."_

* * *

Yes, I know, quite sad. Just to let you guys know, the mom won't be coming back, she's done after this chapter. Okay, I'll update when I can. Oh, and another thing, I got the whole story planned, so no need to worry about me thinking up ideas for what happens, it's just typing it out. Okay I just wanted to let you guys know that. CIAO!!


	9. Family's Gone

HIYAAAA!! I'm back! Sorry I haven't updated for awhile. I keep going to my cousin's place for the weekends. So normally, I won't be updating during weekends. ANYWAY, over the week, something funny happened with my friends and me, so I think I'm going to recreate the story in a Storm Hawks version sometime. And I just might tell some other funny stories of my life in SH version too. Okay, on with the story.

"Family's Gone"

He did it. One simple order, yet a hard one to carry out. But he still did it.

Tanner stared at his hands in disbelief.

"I just took down the Storm Hawks…"

* * *

Sora's POV

_Groan._

_What…what happened?_

I turned my head to look at my surroundings. On the ground, couch on my left…Aerrow and Radarr?..._Oh…now I remember._

Yeah. Unfortunately. The Storm Hawks went to try and stop Cyclonia from its invasion, and Mom was taken by the Talons. So Aerrow, Radarr, and I were sleeping just to pass some time.

Aerrow and Radarr were still asleep, so I decided to just mope around the house while they still slept. There was no purpose to waking them up, we still had to wait for whatever would come.

It was raining now, so I got up and walked over to look out a window, which was overlooking the small woods that also lived with us on our terra.

_Huh?_

Bits of fire were falling from the sky, and following it were pieces of metal.

_What…is going on?_

A figure fell from the sky as well, crash landing on the terra, in the woods. I recognized the body shape and the hair. My eyes widened.

"Dad?..."

I dashed out the door, sprinting as fast as I could towards the woods.

_No no no! This can't be happening!_

As I reached the edge of the woods, a sound of something falling was heard. I turned my head towards where the sound came from, and what appeared before my eyes was just unbelievable. The Condor was falling apart and was in flames as it fell through the sky, down to the Wastelands.

_What?!_

I sprinted over to the edge of the terra, slipping on mud as I went. Finally reaching the end, I peeked over the edge and saw nothing, but clouds. Clouds, and the Wastelands burning below them. But no Condor.

"No! No no no!" I clutched my head in my hands in despair.

Shaking my head, I got up and dashed through the woods. There was still hope. There was still Dad.

"Dad? Dad! Where are you?" I called out.

"Sora! Get away from here! Go away!" a voice yelled. It had to be Dad.

"Dad! What's going on? Where are you?"

Reaching an open area within the forest, my eyes lay upon a figure trying to get up from the ground. It was Dad.

I ran over to him and helped him up. His mouth and nose were dripping with blood, his body all bruised up, his face cut up.

"Dad, what happened?" I whispered.

"Sora, you have to get out now! You have to get off the terra! They're coming!" he snapped.

I ignored him, and the last part he said. "Dad! You have to tell me what happened! And I'm not going to go without you! What happened to everyone?"

He looked at me with an expression that gave me the chills.

"We lost."

"What?"

"We couldn't defeat Cyclonia, and we all fell."

"No…what about all the squadrons? What about the Storm Hawks??"

"All the squadrons are fine. But ours…" he trailed off.

"What? What happened to Gunner?…Jake?...Enna?...Zoram?"

He just shook his head.

"I saw the Condor go down into the Wastelands. Surely, everyone else is somewhere safe!" I shouted.

"No…they…they're all gone…"

"NO! That can't be!" I yelled even louder.

"Sora! They're coming! You have to go now!" Dad started pushing me away and appeared to be getting ready for a battle. He looked up into the sky, expecting something to come.

"Tanner! What happened to Tanner? Dad! Please tell me Tanner is alright!"

Dad turned to look toward me. His eyes, full of sadness.

_Oh…oh no…!_

"He's…" Dad hesitated. "He…he's gone too."

The whole world stopped moving. The rain stopped. The woods around me disappeared. Dad froze in position. My heartbeat was then the only thing I heard.

_Tanner…gone…_

A faint voice began to penetrate my trance.

"Sora…Sora…Sora!"

Everything came back, the rain, the woods, Dad, and I snapped back into reality.

"Sora! They're coming! GO!"

"What? Dad! NO! I'm not leaving without you! Aerrow wouldn't either!"

"Sora! You have to go NOW! The Talons are coming!"

"Dad!" I began to cry.

He ran up to me and held my face in his hands. "Sora…my daughter…take this," he held out the Sardonix crystal, the crystal of our dear terra, Sardonia. "Be a good girl…and take care of Aerrow for me…tell him I love him very much. And I love you."

"I will Dad…" I cried.

Aurinn's POV

I heard the treetops above us begin to shake immensely. The Talons were here, and making their way down the trees. Not only were the Talons here, but Tanner too. I shoved Sora into the bushes so the Talons wouldn't take her, and so that she wouldn't see what a monster Tanner became.

Once Sora landed into the bushes, I knew she sensed that she really needed to go, and she did. She gave me one last look, and mouthed "I love you Dad" then ran out the woods, and never looked back. That was the last time I saw her.

* * *

"Aurinn, I'm surprised you survived. You're a tough one, aren't you?" Tanner said.

"I'm surprised at what a monster you've become! Why have you done this, Tanner?" Aurinn snapped back.

Tanner punched Aurinn square in the face, knocking him over hard on the ground. "It's Dark Ace. And where's the crystal?" Dark Ace walked over and stamped him foot on Aurinn's chest.

"Why should I tell you?" he grunted. "But I'll tell you anyways! It's with Sora! And I know you love her! So don't you dare hurt her!"

Dark Ace just stood above Aurinn, and his face completely changed from bad guy attitude, to sad. He sighed.

"Aurinn…I'd never hurt Sora. And I don't want her to EVER get hurt. She never will be. That's why…I…have to…get rid of you."

"What?"

"I made a deal with Master Cyclonis that if I killed all the Storm Hawks, then Sora would be spared, and Aerrow, too."

Aurinn just closed his eyes.

"So be it," he said.

Then, Tanner, not Dark Ace, said, "Aerrow, Sora, please forgive me."

And Aurinn of the Storm Hawks was no more.

* * *

Sora's POV

_Gasp._

The house was right in front of me and I slipped and fell onto the ground. Something happened. Something was gone. I knew it would happen. And I knew that it just happened. Dad was gone. Gone.

I got up and continued to do what I was supposed to do. Get off the terra.

"Aerrow! Radarr! Get what you need and go to the garage NOW!" I yelled.

"Wha-? Sora? Where have you been? What happened?" Aerrow asked, panicking.

Looking at him square in the eyes, I said, "Too much to tell. But we need to go. We're in danger." Then, I started grabbing supplies.

Aerrow did the same, Radarr too. We finally got packed in a mere two minutes and ran down to the garage. Aerrow and Radarr were already seated on my skimmer, and I was making final adjustments. Then, I looked around the room we were in. This was the last time we were going to be here. This was the last time we'd be on Terra Sardonia, our home. There was no use to coming back. Memories would flood our heads, bad ones, if we came back. There was nothing left to come back to. Everyone that once lived here was dead, except for us.

As I got onto the skimmer, I realized I forgot one thing.

"Hold on, Aerrow, I'll be right back."

I ran up to my room and headed to my night desk. On its surface, was a picture. A picture of all of us. Storm Hawks. Family. I quickly grabbed it and ran back to the garage and stuffed it in my bag, then sat down in my skimmer.

"Okay…time to say goodbye," I whispered.

We flew off into the rainy and gray sky. I had no clue where I was going, or where I should go. We had no map, no navigational system, nothing to guide us anywhere. Worst of all, we had no where to go to, no one to go to.

The rain beat hard on us, so I got a blanket to wrap around Aerrow and Radarr. There wasn't enough room to store another blanket, so I didn't have one. But I didn't care.

I didn't care about anything anymore. I was devasted. Our whole family was now gone. Tanner…was…gone. It hurt so much just to think that. And now, only Radarr, Aerrow, and I were left of the Storm Hawks. Well, we weren't even Storm Hawks. We were just part of the family of the sky knight.

* * *

Meanwhile, somewhere down in the Wastelands, two figures were wandering about.

"Dad? Is that the Condor over there?" one of the figures asked.

"Son, that is! Hurry, we have to get over there!" the other figure responded.

A few hours passed, and the two figures found no survivors in the Condor.

"Everyone's dead. And…Gunner's dead too, Dad," the first figure hung his head.

The dad shook his head. A tear dropped from his face. "Gunner was brave to die like that. I'm very proud of him and his crew to go out there and try to stop Cyclonia. I'm going to fix up the Condor for him and his crew."

"Dad, are you serious? It's going to take ages!"

"It's the least we can do to honor the Storm Hawks…and Gunner," the dad replied.

"O…okay," the son added.

* * *

Sora's POV

We flew on and on. My skimmer had a full tank when we left, and now we only had enough to go for ten minutes. I wasn't able to spot a single terra in the rain. And Aerrow and Radarr didn't either, because they were sleeping most of the time. We flew for about a full twenty-four hours by now, and our food supply was running as low as our gas.

It was still raining, and I was tired, cold, and hungry. With barely any money, food, or gas, we were screwed. And knowing that my family was gone didn't help at all.

My eyelids started to get heavy, and they began drooping.

_No…no…stay…awake…huh? Is that…a tree? Wait…TREE?? SHIT!_

My reflexes quickly triggered me to push Aerrow and Radarr off the skimmer before we crashed into the tree. They fell off somewhere, but were safe. I, on the other hand, crashed into the tree. My skimmer broke into pieces, and I rolled off somewhere. Pain gradually crept into my body, and I couldn't move. My head turned toward the two I had left. They were awake, and safe. That was the most important thing. Safe. They ran over to me.

"Sora! Sora! Sora!" I heard Aerrow yell. "Sora! Please be okay!" He tried to hold me in a semi-sitting, semi-laying position.

"Aerrow…" I smiled.

Then…blackness.

_He said he'd never leave me._

* * *

Oh, man. So many things have happened! And could you guess who the two figures were in the Wastelands? Will the Dark Ace come back into Sora's life? Where have Sora, Aerrow, and Radarr landed? What will happen to Sora? Is she dead? Or is she still alive? What will happen next? So many questions only to be answered by the story itself!

If you have the time, please feel free to rate and review. I'd love to hear from you. The more reviews, the faster I'm likely to update the story! Okay, cya next time! CIAO!


	10. Rescued for a New Beginning

Hey again, peeps! Here's the next chapter!

"Rescued for a New Beginning"

Sora opened her eyes and the first thing she saw was a wooden ceiling.

_What? Where am I?_

She focused her eyes a bit more and looked at her surroundings.

She was on a bed, quite a comfortable one, and the room she was in was not her own.

_Oh gosh…what happened?...I can't remember anything._

She sat up, only to find that her arm was bandaged. She felt pain immediately zing into her body and let out a little yell.

"AHH! What? Why? I can't-"

She looked over to her right, and there sitting on a chair, was a woman, who appeared to be watching over Sora.

"AHH! WHO ARE YOU?"

"Honey! Honey! Calm down, dear!"

"HOW CAN I CALM DOWN IF I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHERE I AM? AND WHO YOU ARE?" Sora attempted to get out of the bed, momentarily forgetting about her bandages, then remembering she had them on once the pain came back.

"Sora! You need to calm down! Rest! Lay down in the bed!" the woman said.

Sora turned around slowly. _She knows my name?_

"You…you know my name?"

"Oh, dear. Yes, I do know your name. Please come back into the bed and lay down. You need to hear about a lot of things."

Sora hesitated for a bit, then gave in and got back into the bed.

"Here. Lay down, and I'll tell you everything. You must be so confused, you poor thing. Just listen to what I have to say, alright?"

"O…okay."

Sora, was indeed confused. She did need to know a lot of things.

"First of all, you can call me Rosie. I'm the manager of this inn, on Terra Klias, in which you are staying for awhile until you heal."

"Oh..h-hi. Wow…I…th-thank you for…saving me," Sora stuttered.

"Oh, honey! You're very sweet, but save the thank you for later. What's more important is your well being, and you knowing what's going on.

Sora nodded her head.

"First of all, I want you to know that you are safe here, on Terra Klias. You were supposedly in danger, being chased after the Talons, hmm?"

Sora nodded her head yet again.

"Well, those damn Talons won't know that you are here. So you are perfectly safe here, dear. Anyway, don't thank me for saving you. Your brother, Aerrow, did. And if he didn't come any sooner, you probably wouldn't have survived with the rain and your broken arm and all. "

"Oh! Aerrow! Where's Aerrow! I need to see him! And Radarr too!"

"Honey! Dear! It's alright! Calm down, he's fine. He's sitting outside.

"Oh…I…I see."

"But anyway, the last thing I suppose you remember, was that you crashed into a tree on the terra?"

Sora then remembered. Her head was flooded with flashbacks, starting from when her Dad fell into the woods, till the moment she fainted. She only heard Rosie in the background.

"Your brother, Aerrow, the sweet child he is, he came and knocked on my door. It was actually quite late at night, and it was still raining, and-"

"_Dad? Dad! Where are you?"_

"_Sora! Get away from here! Go away!"_

"-when I opened the door, I saw your brother and his friend all drenched! He brought me to where you crashed, it was such a shock to see you just lying there!"

"_What? What happened to Gunner?…Jake?...Enna?...Zoram?"_

"…_they're all gone…"_

"_NO! That can't be!"_

"So I brought you into my inn, and fixed you up. Your brother was very worried about you, he cried and didn't stop until after I told him that you were going to be okay. The poor kid really cares for you."

"_Sora! They're coming! GO!"_

"_What? Dad! NO! I'm not leaving without you! Aerrow wouldn't either!"_

"_Sora! You have to go NOW! The Talons are coming!"_

"_Dad!"_

Rosie sighed. "Your brother didn't have much to tell me, except that you all were supposedly being chased by the Talons, and that you needed to get off your home terra. He also said you didn't tell him about what happened, that you didn't have time."

"_Aerrow! Radarr! Get what you need and go to the garage NOW!"_

"_Wha-? Sora? Where have you been? What happened?"_

"_Too much to tell. But we need to go. We're in danger."_

"Yes…it's true." Sora sighed. "I…I remember everything now..."

Rosie looked at me with sad eyes. "Dear, would you like to see Radarr and Aerrow?"

Sora starting crying. "Yes! Yes please!" She nodded her head quickly.

Rosie went out to get Radarr and Aerrow, and a few minutes later, she came back with them. She then left us to have our own reunion.

"S…Sora?" Aerrow popped his head through the door.

"Aerrow! Come here!"

"SORA!"

Aerrow ran up to the bed, and gave Sora a giant kid hug. Radarr joined the hug too.

"Sora! Sora! I thought you were going to die! I saw you lying there, and you didn't move!"

"_Sora! Please be okay!"_

Aerrow began crying too.

"You didn't get up for three days!"

"THREE DAYS?"

Aerrow just buried his head in between Sora's arm and side, and continued crying. She rubbed the back of his head.

_Kid…I don't know what I'd do without you…_

"Hey there, now…" Sora whispered. "It's all going to be alright. We're all still here, the three of us. We're going to make the best of what we can, and we need to grow as close as we can together. We're all we got left."

Aerrow looked up and nodded his head silently, tears still streaming down his face.

Sora sighed. "There's a lot of things you need to know about, Aerrow."

So she recalled what happened, and told Aerrow.

"You were still asleep when I woke up…so I went to look out a window and-…"

* * *

Sora finally told Aerrow all that had happened. In the end, all Aerrow could do was cry again. It was a lot for the kid. He was still young, and to hear such bad news was overwhelming for him.

"The last thing Dad said to me was to be a good girl, and to take care of you. And most importantly, he said he loves you."

Aerrow still cried and Radarr patted him on the back. _Poor kid_

"Wait…I just remembered."

Sora opened her small bag attached to her belt. The Sardonix Crystal.

"Aerrow! Aerrow look! I just remembered that Dad gave this to me before he pushed me away."

Aerrow looked up and he saw the shining blue crystal before his eyes. He breathed in awe.

"W-wow…"

"It'll remind us of our family, how close we all were, and all the good times we had," Sora whispered.

She also took out a picture.

"What's that?" Aerrow asked.

"A picture of our family," Sora replied.

The three scooted close to each other on the bed and held the picture in their hands.

Silence.

"We're gonna rebuild the Storm Hawks," Sora said.

"What?" Aerrow asked.

_Rack? _Radarr's ears perked up.

"We're gonna rebuild the Storm Hawks," Sora repeated. "And we're going to take down Cyclonia. For Jake. Enna. Zoram. Gunner. Mom. Dad. And Tanner."

"But…but there's only three of us!" Aerrow pointed out.

"Maybe so, but we're still going to rebuild the Storm Hawks." Sora affirmed. "Are ya with me?"

Aerrow and Radarr exchanged glances, then nodded their heads.

"We're in," Aerrow said.

The three put their hands together.

"For the Storm Hawks," Sora spoke.

"For the Storm Hawks," Aerrow repeated.

* * *

There's that for you. I'm working on the next chapter right now, so it'll probably be up soon. Stay tuned! Review if you could please and say hi or something! I'd love to hear from you!


	11. Similar Thoughts, Similar Goals

On with the story! Remember to vote on the poll and please rate and review if you can!

"Similar Thoughts, Similar Goals"

A few hours later on the same day, Sora was still resting in her bed and Aerrow and Radarr had already left. Rosie knocked on the door. "May I come in?"

"Yes, come in, please, Rosie," Sora answered.

The door opened and Rosie came in, carrying a pitcher of water. She sat down on the chair next to the bed.

"How is your arm doing?" she asked.

"It's fine. Thank you for the water."

"Your welcome, darling. Oh, Sora. I wanted to tell you about something."

"Yes, what is it?"

"I watched the news an hour ago. They said that Talons had invaded Terra Sardonia, the home terra of the Storm Hawks. They also said that all the squadrons were safe and returned to their homes. All but the Storm Hawks.

_Our family…_

"Not only did they report that, but they included that the ship they drove in, the Condor I think it was, was found in the Wastelands. Some Merbs picked it up and they were going to repair it in honor of the Storm Hawks. Those certain Merbs had a relative on the Condor apparently."

_Gunner? Gunner had a family?_

"The Merbs searched the ship for survivors, and while they were searching, they found a picture in one of the rooms. The picture had the Storm Hawks in it, and the wife and kids of the sky knight.

_That's us._

"When I looked closely at the picture on the TV, I realized that…"

"Aerrow, Radarr, and I were in it."

"Yes…which means that…"

"We're the kids of the befallen sky knight of the Storm Hawks."

"I didn't want to ask about this before when you first woke up. I already heard that the Storm Hawks fell, but I never realized that-"

"Rosie…it's okay. All that matters now is that…well…Aerrow and I are safe…And it's all thanks to you."

Rosie and Sora looked at each other and had a bit of a moment.

"Rosie?"

"Yes, Sora?"

"I…I want to say thank you…for everything. If it weren't for you helping me out, I wouldn't have survived. And if you didn't take us in, we wouldn't have had any place to go."

"Oh, Sora!" Rosie put a hand on Sora's shoulder. "You and Aerrow are still just children! Well, you're a teenager at that! But you still need people to care for you! And I'm quite happy to care for you and Aerrow! I should be the one saying thank you for keeping us company! It's actually quite lonely here with only my daughter around."

"You…you have a daughter?"

The sentimental feelings went away and the mood in the room got brighter.

"Oh! I can't believe I forgot to tell you about her! Goodness, this woman is getting old! Yes! I have a daughter. She's about Aerrow's age. Her name's Piper!"

"That's a cute name. Is she here?"

"Yes, she's playing with Aerrow outside right now. In fact, I think if you look outside the window there," she pointed at a window to my left, "you'll be able to see them outside."

"Okay." Sora got up slowly and walked over to the window carefully, trying to avoid pain coming into her arm. She looked outside the window and she saw Aerrow and a girl being chased by Radarr.

"Those two get along so well! They only met a few days ago, and they're already like an old married couple!" Rosie clasped her hands together. "It's just such a blessing that you three came along. Now, Piper has friends to play with!"

Sora gave a little chuckle. "I'm glad she does. She looks really happy."

"You've been in bed all day, Sora. Why don't you go outside and watch the kids for a bit?"

"Okay. I can meet your daughter while I'm at it."

Rosie guided Sora through the inn out the door. The inn was not small at all like most inns, but it wasn't too large either. Sora was sleeping in a room on the top floor, which included other rooms for guests to sleep in, and a room for Rosie and Piper. The bottom floor had a nice open area with tables for guests to eat, and a gorgeous kitchen to cook food. There was also a private dining room just for Rosie and Piper.

"The door is right down that hall way. You keep going. I have to get ready and prepare food for incoming guests."

"Okay. Thanks, Rosie."

"No problem, honey."

Sora walked out the door and once she set foot outside, she felt the warm sunlight hit her face. It was just so refreshing to go outside after being cooped up inside for a few days.

She looked around the area and her eyes lay upon a terra that looked almost like home. Well, what used to be home. The terra was a wee bit smaller than Terra Sardonia, and it didn't have a small woods on it.

Sora embarked on a search for Aerrow and his new friend.

"Aerrow! Radarr! Where are you?"

She heard quick footsteps, as if the person making the footsteps was running. And he was running.

Sora saw Aerrow running out from behind a corner of the inn, and chasing him were Radarr and a girl. The girl had midnight blue hair, dark toned skinned, and beautiful amber eyes.

"Hey, Aerrow!"

"Sora?" Aerrow turned his head toward me and tripped over a hole in the grass.

Radarr and the girl ran up to Aerrow and both lay a hand on his back.

"TAG! You're it, Aerrow!" the girl declared.

Sora just laughed. Then, she gasped and widened her eyes.

"_Hey, Sora! Where's Mom?" Aerrow asked._

"_What? AHHHHHH!"_

"_You GOTTA focus on the opp-"_

"_Opponent and nothing else! Yes, I know, Tanner. But little squirt over there wants to know where Mom is, so I gotta tell him…"_

Sora just called out to Aerrow and he fell, resulting with Aerrow being "it". It was just like when Aerrow asked Sora where Mom was, and she got distracted, resulting in her fall, and Tanner's victory for the practice duel.

_Memories…_

"Hi! My name's Piper! And I know your name is Sora!" the girl greeted.

"Huh?" Sora shook her head quickly to shake off the memory. "Oh! Hello, Piper. It's really nice to meet you."

"It's nice to meet you, too! You're brother's really fun to play with. And his friend, Radarr, too!" she said. Then, she leaned in and put a hand on the side of her mouth. "Don't tell him this, but he's really cute, too!"

Sora's first reaction was just widened eyes and an open mouth. She didn't know what to say at first, since the comment was out of nowhere really. But in the end, she found her words.

"I'm glad…you think that," Sora replied, hesitantly. Then, she recovered from her little shock. "He is quite the boy."

"Yea, really!" Piper turned toward Aerrow who was now sitting on the ground with Radarr waiting for Piper to return to the game. "Hey, Aerrow! Let's stop playing for a bit! I wanna talk to your sister!"

_That's nice of her. Quite a thoughtful girl._

"Okay!" Aerrow shouted back.

Aerrow and Radarr paced over to where Sora and Piper were. The four found a place to sit somewhere out in the grass, a little away from the inn, so as not to disturb the coming guests.

"So, Aerrow told me that you guys were kids of the sky knight of the Storm Hawks." Piper sat cross-legged and used lots of hand motions as she talked.

"Umm…yes, that's right."

"That's so cool! I wish my dad was a sky knight! I've heard of the Storm Hawks before! They're so awesome! You're so lucky to be apart of them!"

Sora nodded her head solemnly. Piper didn't know what happened to them though.

"What does your dad do, Piper?" Aerrow questioned.

Piper frowned and put an index and thumb on her chin. "Well, you see, I never got to know my dad. He was killed in a fight with some Talons. I wasn't born yet."

Sora's eyes widened.

"Oh…I'm sorry, Piper…I didn't mean to…" Aerrow apologized.

"It's alright. I never knew him, so it doesn't really affect me. I do wish I had a dad though."

"You're not the only one." Sora put a hand on her shoulder. "Our dad was killed by Talons, too. Actually, our whole family was, the Storm Hawks were taken down, too. So Aerrow, Radarr, and I are the only ones left of the family."

Piper gasped. "Oh wow…I'm really sorry to hear that! The Storm Hawks are gone?...Gee…It must be really hard. I'm so sorry…"

"It's alright. Things happen," Sora shrugged her shoulders.

"You guys don't deserve those things to happen though. You're too nice and awesome," Piper stated. "The Storm Hawks, too…"

"Yea," Aerrow and Sora said in unison.

"You didn't deserve to lose you dad either, Piper," Aerrow sighed.

"Yea…I guess. But you know what? I'm planning to get back at Cyclonia somehow. They have no right to invade our terras. And they had no right to kill my dad."

Radarr, Aerrow, and Sora exchanged glances. Piper had the same feelings as they did. She had the same goal as they did. Getting back at Cyclonia.

"Hey, Piper?" Aerrow asked.

"Hmm?"

"We plan to get back at Cyclonia, too. For killing our family and the Storm Hawks," Aerrow pointed out. "In fact…" he looked at Sora and gave her a cue.

Sora continued Aerrow's thought. "We plan to rebuild the Storm Hawks."

"Oh wow!" Piper exclaimed. "Do…Do you think…I can…join? And help you guys, too?"

Radarr, Aerrow, and Sora exchanged glances once again. They all had hope in their eyes. Someone actually wanted to join them, someone had the same feelings as they did. Someone wanted to help them out.

"Of course!" Aerrow jumped up into the air spreading his hands out.

"We're…wow…we're actually really…surprised and glad that you would wanna join us," Sora scratched the back of her neck. "It's a great feeling."

"Wow! Thank you thank you thank you thank you!" Piper jumped onto Sora's lap and gave her a giant hug. "It's a real honor, you know!"

"It's a real honor to us," Aerrow stated.

"Yea, really," Sora added.

"I can be your navigation specialist! And I love studying about crystals! I can help out with crystals, too!"

Anyone could tell that Piper was really excited. She began ranting about how she could help out with plans for missions and crystals and all that jazz.

"Hey, uhh…Piper?" Aerrow interrupted.

Piper paused in her rejoicing. "Yes?"

"You know we're both only about ten years old…my sister's turning fifteen in a few months. So…you might want to hold off for a bit." Aerrow pointed out. "You can still talk about the things you can do though!" he quickly added.

Piper dropped back down to her seat. She put a thumb and index to her chin. "Oh…that's right. I forgot about that."

"Ahh! Who cares? We're going to rebuild the Storm Hawks someday! We just got a new member! And we're going to get back at Cyclonia for what they did to our family, and we're going to protect the Atmos from Cyclonia! We should be happy about that, right?" Sora proclaimed.

"You're right…" Aerrow agreed.

"Mmmhmm!" Piper added.

"For the Storm Hawks, our family, and the Atmos," Sora put her good arm out.

"For the Storm Hawks, our family, and the Atmos!" Aerrow and Piper put their hands on top of Sora's.

_Rack!_ Radarr added his hand as well.

* * *

The three told Rosie everything, and Radarr tried to tell also, only a series of '_racks'_ were coming out of his mouth. Rosie was a bit hesitant to agree with the idea first. She was worried for all of our well beings and our safety.

"Mom…think about it this way. The Talons killed Dad. The Talons killed Aerrow and Sora's family. They killed the Storm Hawks! We have to get them back!" Piper reasoned.

"She's right. We can let them sit back and take over the Atmos and kill everyone," Sora added.

"Cyclonia needs to be taught a lesson," Aerrow convinced.

"We need to fight for what we believe in. We're not going to give in to Cyclonia," Piper affirmed.

Rosie just shook her head, but smiled. "Alright kids…I'll let you do as you wish. But you all are so young! I wouldn't want any of you to get hurt!"

"We might get hurt, but our beliefs won't. And if we're not here later, other will carry on our legacy," Sora said.

Rosie's thoughts then changed. She sighed. "You kids are very brave. And I'm very proud of that. I will support you four in any way I can. May you Storm Hawks be successful in what you do."

* * *

Sora went to bed early that night. Not only did she need more rest to heal, but she needed to think as well.

_Today…wow…today was just full of blessings and surprises. It's so amazing how it all happened. And Rosie…gee…Rosie is just beyond kind. She cares for Aerrow and Radarr and I like we're her own kids! She even agreed to let Piper join us on our conquest. And Piper. Wow! What. A. Girl! She knows courage, that girl. Definitely a plus to the Storm Hawks. She's very positive and kind too, just like her mother. This is all a such a great miracle. _

Sora yawned and stretched.

_Bah…enough thinking…time to go to sleep…_

She closed her eyes. Right before she fell asleep, a memory entered her head.

"_BONZAI!" Tanner cried, falling from the ceiling._

…_And he tackled me…I managed to get out a muffled "ouch" which everyone heard and started guffawing._

_I have never seen anyone travel at that speed before. And I hope that I will never see that again…because being tackled like that hurts like HELL!_

"_HAHAHAHAHA! Gotcha, Sora! Oh, thanks for the sock!" Tanner laughed._

Sora rolled over on her side where her good arm was.

_You're still here, aren't you?_

* * *

Yes he is Sora! Anyway…YES! Piper has now come into the picture! Hope you like the story so far. Please rate and review! I really wanna hear from you guys and what you think about the story! Okay, catcha all later! CIAO!


	12. Business at Rosie's Inn

Hallo everyone! It's been awhile…a SUPER long while. Anyway, on with the story!

"Business at Rosie's Inn"

Days have passed, and as each day came and went, Sora's arm healed. And not only that, but the relationship between her, Aerrow, Piper, and Rosie grew as well. It was as if the siblings were being adopted into the family.

Sora woke up one morning to find a busy noise downstairs. Aerrow was still sleeping, so she decided to get up and out of her bed to check out the noise. Walking downstairs, she found people. Lots of people. They were enjoying themselves to food and drinks at Rosie's inn. Although they were enjoying themselves, Rosie seemed out of her mind, running back and forth, taking orders, bringing out food and drinks.

After watching this process for about a minute, Sora had an idea. Her arm was better, so why should she stand around? She was going to help Rosie out. Sora jogged into the kitchen to talk with Rosie.

"Morning, Rosie," Sora greeted.

"Oh! Good morning, dear! I'm afraid that my hands are very full right now, so if you could please talk to me later, I'd appreciate that," she said quickly, already running back out to the dining area.

"Well, actually, that's what I wanted to talk about! I can help you out with the inn!" Sora shouted after her.

Rosie stopped in her tracks, with a plate in each hand, she turned around slowly to look at Sora.

"Would you really?"

Sora couldn't believe what she heard. Of course she would! Why would she ask in the first place?

"Of course, Rosie! You can't handle all of this yourself!" Sora pointed out. She walked over to Rosie and grabbed the two plates herself and strutted out the door to the dining room.

Rosie blinked her eyes and shook her head quickly. She never had help with the inn since her husband died.

"What a blessing that child is…"

* * *

The morning passed by quickly. Apparently, the guests wanted to try out Rosie's new breakfast dish, and indeed it was very good. All of the guests approved of the dish, and said they would come back for more next time.

After the guests left, it was time for a lunch break for Sora and Rosie. Sora dropped down onto a chair in the guest dining area, looking at all of the dishes there were to clean up.

"Oh boy," she sighed.

Rosie came out from the kitchen.

"Well, girl, I'll be! You did such a great job serving all of those people! Thank you SO much, hon! You've been a great help!"

Sora looked up. "Oh, haha., it was nothing." _Nothing? More like a freakin' beehive! _"But I'm glad to help."

Rosie smiled. "Really, Sora, it was a great help to me. I haven't gotten any help with the inn since, well…actually, let's go into the private dining room. We can talk in there."

"Okay."

Sora and Rosie stepped into the dining and room and sat down to talk. The kids and Radarr were playing outside.

"Well, anyway, continuing on with what I said before, I haven't had help ever since my husband passed away," Rosie sighed.

Sora knew about her husband already from talking with Piper. "Oh, that's right, he got killed by Talons in a fight or argument."

Rosie nodded her head slowly.

"I'm really sorry about that. It must be really hard."

"Well, not as hard as you, Aerrow, and Radarr losing your whole family and home," she pointed out.

Sora's eyes widened. For the past few weeks she actually didn't feel any pain from missing them. It was as if she forgot all about it.

"I…I..."

Rosie gasped and put a hand to her mouth. "Oh, goodness, dear! I didn't mean to remind you of that! I'm terribly sorry!"

"I…no no…not at all…I was going to say that…I…actually…forgot about them," Sora spoke with pauses. She was surprised. She never thought she'd get over the fact that her family was gone, excluding Aerrow and Radarr.

Rosie bit her lip. "Are you sure you're okay, hon?" _She sure seemed like it. I'm quite surprised._

"Yes, I'm fine, Rosie, thank you. But…What this conversation is really about is you and the inn. Like I said before, I'm super glad and happy to help out. Besides, it'll be an exchange for taking care of us, meaning Aerrow, Radarr, and I, letting us stay here, and for taking care of my arm. And…about the whole losing family thing, I feel like you've adopted us into your family, Rosie. And…I really appreciate that."

Rosie had tears well up in her eyes. "Oh, Sora! Come here!" Rosie got out of her chair and embraced Sora.

Sora felt like she had a mom again. It had been awhile since she had that feeling.

Rosie sat back down in her chair, wiping the tears off her face. "Sora, I'm more than glad to have taken you, your brother, and Radarr in. It's been quite lonely with only Piper and I here, and like _I've _said before, we need the company. Piper needs some friends to play with, and I've just needed someone to talk to. And even if you didn't help out with the inn just now, I've still would have been glad to take care of you."

Sora just smiled. Rosie smiled too. It was a mutual feeling. Both had their gratitude and thankfulness that they had already expressed, but they couldn't express it enough through words. So, they would just express it through silence.

After the silence, Sora spoke. "Thank you, Rosie. For everything."

"And I thank you, too, Sora."

* * *

Lunch break was just about over and Sora and Rosie were back to business.

"Alright, so this morning was a bit unorganized since you came to help. I didn't know how to split up the job. So for this evening, I've decided that you can take the orders and serve, while I prepare the food and drinks," Rosie explained.

"Okay, sounds good to me," Sora agreed.

"And when time passes, you can begin to cook and I'll take the orders and serve. We can switch it up," Rosie added.

Sora nodded her head.

Rosie gave a big sigh. It seemed like she had tons of things on her shoulders.

"And…there were a few more things…oh yes! That's right! You, young lady, need a uniform!" Rosie ran off somewhere to retrieve the "uniform".

Sora stood there with big eyes. _Uniform?_ She slapped herself on the forehead. _DUR! You gotta wear uniforms at where you work!_

So why was she so dazed?

Thing was, Sora hadn't worn any uniforms before. Since she hadn't been officially a Storm Hawk, she didn't wear a uniform while training with Tanner or anything like that. The school she went to didn't have a uniform either. "Just wear something that you're comfortable in and something that you can move around easily in," the teacher said.

So in the end, it added up that Sora didn't DO uniforms.

This time, was a big exception though. She was working at Rosie's inn, and she couldn't be seen in what she was wearing, except for the morning. A t-shirt and pants wouldn't cut it.

Flashback.

_Hmmm, today feels different, so I guess I'll wear something different. I normally just wear a shirt with pants…pretty tom-boyish…so…I guess I'll be a __little__ girly today. __I picked out a white shirt and deep blue tank top to wear over it and green, blue, and yellow Bermuda shorts. __Awesome colors. Not too girly though...screw it._

The morning of her birthday, and the morning when she hit Tanner with a hairbrush and they embraced each other. The hug.

Sora sighed. She had to get over him. Him and the rest of the family.

Rosie came running back with what seemed like to be a bundle of clothes.

Sora scratched the back of her neck. "Umm, Rosie, not to be rude or anything, but I hope I'm not wearing _everything_ in that bundle. It's…hot when it's busy," she pointed out.

Rosie had already opened the bundle and hung some of the clothes on the backs of the chairs and on the table. She gave a big laugh.

"Of course not, Sora! These are just your choices, which by the way you'll go over with me, and you're not going to wear everything," she smiled.

"Oh…okay," Sora said.

Well, the bundle sure seemed big for only a few articles of clothes. There was a black skirt and pants, a dark blue skirt, a white long sleeve and short sleeve, and a pink long sleeve. Okay, it was a lot of clothes.

Sora thought that she would just pick out the black pants and the long sleeve. She could roll up the long sleeve and button it halfway. She didn't want anything _too_ fancy. Skirts might attract people she didn't want, and short sleeve…well the shirt actually was too small for her. And the pink long sleeve…hell she didn't do pink.

"Okay, Rosie, how about the white long sleeve and black pants?"

Rosie frowned. "Sora, hon, you have _way_ too nice of a figure to just wear pants and a long sleeve shirt."

Sora made an excuse. "But…I don't want to wear anything too fancy. It might…uh…I might get unwanted attention?"

"Then it's unwanted attention you'll get!"

Rosie picked up the dark blue skirt and white long sleeve.

"I'll let you wear the long sleeve, but you're going to wear this skirt.

She pushed the clothes into Sora's arms and ran off into the kitchen. "Go and change, Sora! People will be coming soon!"

"Oh boy," she sighed.

* * *

"Oooh, Sora's lookin' fancy," Piper commented.

"How come you never wore skirts before, sis? You look really good in that one!" Aerrow added.

Sora tried to pull down the skirt below her knees. Although it was only a like an inch above her knees, she still didn't like it.

"Very funny, Aerrow."

"No, I'm serious!"

Sora glared at him. He could be the sweetest brother, but you can't expect every brother to be sweet all the time.

Sora sighed. "Okay, whatever."

She walked out to the kitchen where Rosie was busily preparing dishes.

"Oh, Sora! You look just wonderful!" Rosie exclaimed, while sautéing veggies in one hand, and stirring soup in another.

"Thanks," Sora mumbled.

"You can go out and change the sign to "open" now. I'm sure there'll be tons of guests waiting outside."

Sora was surprised when she walked out to the door. There _were_ tons of people waiting outside. It was as if there was a grand opening to something.

_But the inn has been here for years…it must be really famous and have good food then._

Sora flipped the sign and opened the door, and the crowd came rushing in. Everyone took their seats quickly. Amazingly, there were still some left! The inn looked smaller than it really was. It probably could have held more people then you can imagine.

Singles, couples, triples, quadruples, and so on and so forth, and families occupied the inn. It was actually quite lively. Rosie would make a lot of money for sure. This was good business.

Sora walked over to her own podium with a cash register and her notepad for ordering. She looked out at the crowd, then looked at her notepad and flipped through the blank pages.

_I wonder if there is enough space for everyone's order?_

* * *

Sora began her job (officially) with a very strange incident. Sure, everyone must have known that Rosie's inn on Terra Klias provided the best food and service, but she _never_ would have thought that a certain type of people would come here.

Sora made fists with her hands and grinded her teeth.

At one table, sitting all by himself, was…

* * *

AHHHHH!! WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT?? Hee hee! I made a cliff hanger just to kill ya guys! Stay tuned and you shall see!

Sorry I haven't updated for awhile, just haven't had the time. I'm going to move soon, sooo…yea. Next chapter might be up today. I'm working on it right now!


	13. People Can Be Surprises

Haha I made you all wait

Haha I made you all wait! That's how evil I am! Okay anyway on with the story!!

"People Can Be Surprises"

Recap:

_Sora began her job (officially) with a very strange incident. Sure, everyone must have known that Rosie's Inn on Terra Klias provided the best food and service, but she never would have thought that a certain type of people would come here._

_Sora made fists with her hands and grinded her teeth. _

_At one table, sitting all by himself, was…_

A Menu Face. Sora couldn't stand menu faces. They always had the menu up in their face, hiding their identity. Moreover, it was also rude, or so Sora thought.

"Ugh, I might as well get his order done first so I don't have to see him with his face in the menu anymore."

Sora walked over to the menu face and cleared her throat.

"Ahem, welcome to Rosie's Inn, can I help you with your order?" Sora asked annoyingly.

"Well, of course you can. After all, that is your job here, isn't it?" a voice said behind the menu.

Sora grinded her teeth. _Put down the menu, WILL YOU?_

And her thoughts worked just like magic. The man put down his menu, and revealed his face which so happened to have a smirk on it. Then he suddenly widened his eyes. He appeared to be surprised. He was at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Sora was surprised, too. She dropped her pen and notebook. Shock and panic overwhelmed her. She never wanted to see his kind ever since _they_ killed her family.

Fury now took over Sora. "You…you…CYCLONIAN!"

All of the guests turned their heads to what was happening. Some of them began murmuring to each other, while others gasped.

"That's the Dark Ace!" someone whispered near Sora.

"Why is he here?"

"Should we leave? What if he plans to destroy the place?"

Rosie heard the commotion out in the dining area. She poked her head out to see what was going on. Then she saw Sora and a Cyclonian face to face. She tried to make an excuse to call Sora in.

"Sora! Uhhh…there's a problem in the kitchen! Can you please...come help??"

Sora turned her whole body towards Rosie, her back facing towards the "Dark Ace" whom she didn't really know of, but somehow everyone else knew. She snapped out of her furious state and ran back to the kitchen to where Rosie was.

The Dark Ace's mouth dropped open. He shook his head quickly. _She's here…_

He couldn't believe it, but the truth was staring at him right in the face.

* * *

"Rosie, what is going ON? Why is there a Cyclonian here?" Sora asked demandingly.

"Sora, hon, you need to calm down," Rosie said.

"How can I calm down if I know that there's a Cyclonian out there?" Sora pointed out the door. "_They_ killed my family!"

"Sora, listen, it's still busy out there, and I don't want to lose any of my customers. I…" Rosie sighed. "Sora, to make a long story short, Cyclonian's _are _allowed here. I'll tell you the rest of the story after we close up. So please just calm down, and keep working. I promise everything will be okay."

Oh, but everything _wasn't_ okay. Not for Sora.

Sora stomped out of the kitchen and headed straight for the table where the so called "Dark Ace" was.

Everyone else was right where they were. They were too scared to move. And there was a silence.

Sora glared at the "Dark Ace" right in the eyes. "I don't know who you are, but it seems like everyone else does, and I can see that they're scared of you. But regardless of who you are and what you do, I want you to get out of here. For my sake, everyone else's, and _especially_ YOURS!"

The Dark Ace just sat where he was. It seemed that he was scared now, just as much as the guests. In fact, it appeared that the mood changed also. The guests were now a little bit less afraid because they saw that Sora was standing up to the Dark Ace, even though they thought it was a bad idea. But it still made a difference.

Sora slammed her fist on the table. "NOW!"

The Cyclonian still didn't move. Actually, now, he wasn't afraid anymore. He thought up of something to say back to her.

"Well, seems like Rosie didn't tell you that Cyclonians are allowed here, and I'm a Cyclonian," he crossed his arms and put his feet on the table.

Sora narrowed her eyes. She couldn't believe how rude he was. "Actually, she did. But you know what? I don't like you. So you better get your sorry ass out of here before I beat the hell out of you."

The Dark Ace got out of his chair and stood up suddenly, making a loud thud as he put his feet on the ground.

"You don't like me? And you say that you're gonna kick my ass? I'd like to see you do that with a skirt on," he laughed insultingly.

Rosie heard _another _commotion outside.

"Sora better not be doing anything out of the question!"

Rosie poked her head outside yet again, only to see what she hoped she didn't want to see, Sora and the Dark Ace face to face again. This time though, the Dark Ace was laughing and Sora was looking more pissed then ever.

Rosie shouted after Sora. "Sora, don't do anythi-"

_BAM! BAM!_

_Thud._

The Dark Ace stopped laughing. He couldn't anymore even if he wanted to. He was curled up on the floor.

Sora was standing above him with a big grin.

"So, I didn't really kick your _ass _in particular, but I still punched you in the face, therefore making the saying still true. SO HA! What are ya gonna do now, big boy?"

Rosie sighed. Sora was unstoppable when it came to combating someone she REALLY didn't like.

* * *

It was late in the evening, and Sora and Rosie opened the evening bar.

While they waited for guests to come in, Rosie told Sora about the Cyclonians.

"Alright, where do I start?" Rosie sighed.

"Start wherever you can, just as long as I know why the Cyclonians are here," Sora said.

"Well, I guess I should tell you the whole thing so you will understand everything." Rosie took a breath and let it out. "It all began with a fight that was in the inn. Cyclonians came to the inn, demanding for services for free. My husband said that they had to pay if they wanted services here. And that was when…"

Rosie stopped talking and wiped her eyes.

Sora scooted her chair next to Rosie's and rubbed her shoulder. "It's okay...we…we all have losses that we don't want to happen. But you know, everything's gonna be alright."

Rosie nodded her head. "Yes, thank you, Sora."

Sora smiled nervously. That was too…weird of a sentimental moment.

"Anyway, yes. After the Cyclonians killed my husband, they again demanded for free services. They threatened me and told me that if I didn't, then they would harm me and other people that I cared about. I was pregnant at the time too, and I didn't want my child to get hurt. So I had no choice but to let them come as they pleased and get the food and drink that they want for free."

"What? That's not right! You can't let them do that to you! Piper's old enough now, and she's going to join us to reborn the Storm Hawks to bring peace and justice to the Atmos, and to you, Rosie. We have to start refusing services to them!"

"I don't know, Sora."

"This is our chance to tell the Cyclonians that they need to back off!"

Rosie smiled. "Sora, you are very brave and courageous. And I'm very proud of that. But…I don't want any of you to get hurt…"

"It's all good," Sora replied.

A bell rang from the dining room. Someone was here for the bar.

"Oh, well, I better get to working again. Rosie, I think you should get to bed now. I can handle the bar all by myself."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure."

"What about the drunk people?"

"Yes, I can take care of it."

"And the people that don't want to leave?"

"Yes, Rosie, stop worrying you know I can do it."

"And making sure that everyone pays except for the Cyclonians?"

"Yes, I-" Sora paused. "Oh…Cyclonians come for the bar, too?"

"Yes, Sora."

"Got it. It'll all be taken care of, Rosie."

"Hmmm…alright. I expect the counters to be clean too, okay?"

"Yep."

"Good night, then, Sora."

"Good night, Rosie. Sleep well."

Sora walked outside to serve the waiting customer. She walked up behind the counter and looked at the guest. She gasped and widened her eyes.

"Mr. Blake??"

* * *

OOOOOOOOH! Mr. Blake now comes into the story, and with Mr. Blake comes you know who!

Announcement: I'm going on vacation starting from this Thursday to next Friday. I don't think I'll be able to update any of my stories while I'm over there. Sorry for the inconvenience that this may cause.

Well, I'd say stay tuned, but you don't have to for a week. Anyway, thanks for reading, and I hope you like the story so far. Say hi and please review if you can! wink wink


	14. Mr Blake

Wow it's seriously been awhile since I've written the last chapter for this story. Well enough chatting let's go on with How It All Began!!

"Mr. Blake"

Recap: (the shortest one ever)

"_Mr. Blake??"_

(End of Recap)

The one who was called Mr. Blake looked up from the bar menu.

"Sora? Is that you?"

"Oh my gosh, NO WAY!! MR. BLAKE!!," Sora screamed.

She ran around the bar counter to go and hug her "uncle".

Sora and Mr. Blake weren't really related, they were just close, since Aurinn was good friends with Mr. Blake, too.

"Awww, wow, I haven't seen you for ages! I missed you so much, Mr. Blake! Where have you been??"

"Ahhh! Sora, It's good to see you again, haha. I've been a bit busy. What are you doing here?"

"I work here!" Sora beamed proudly.

"Oh, really? Well, that's interesting! What are you doing so far away from home?"

Sora gasped.

_Mr. Blake doesn't know…he must not know anything…about…my family…about what happened…and he doesn't even know Aerrow…ohh…he was always the one out of the loop…_

"Uhh…Mr. Blake have you umm…heard the news?"

"News? Umm…" Mr. Blake tilted his head.

"You…you know about…the whole thing with Cyclonia…they tried to invade and take control of the Atmos…"

"Oh! Yes, Sora I knew that. But what does that have to do with your family?"

"Ummm…well…you know how Dad was a sky knight…right?" Sora asked, trying to give little pieces of information at a time.

"Yes, yes…" Mr. Blake still was a bit lost…then…"Oh no…Sora…did…did they?…"

Sora nodded her head.

"Oh Sora, I'm so sorry...you must be all alone…" Mr. Blake embraced the child he knew for so long.

"Mr. Blake, I'm not lonely. I have a brother. And the people here took my brother and me in. We even have a…a…creature-friend," Sora smiled.

"What? You have a brother?"

Sora nodded her head enthusiastically. "Things aren't as bad as they seem. I'm okay. I still have family."

Mr. Blake was a bit surprised at the news. It was good of course for Sora _not_ being alone, but still it was a bit unexpected.

"His name is Aerrow, my brother. And our creature-friend is named Radarr. And the person who owns the inn is-"

"Rosie," Mr. Blake finished for her. "I know her. She and I are good friends."

"Oh! That's great! Then you know Piper, too?"

"Yes, yes I do. Haha, speaking of which, she is just like you when you were around her age. So you have a brother, now?"

"Mmmhmm. He's about the same age as Piper! They play tag and stuff a lot, and Radarr plays with them too. Sometimes I join them, haha."

"Ahh…I see…that's good that you have someone. Another family member to keep close to you."

"Yes…" Sora smiled.

"Did you know that I have a son now?"

"Really??" Sora's eyes shined. She loved meeting more people, especially since everyone she knew before then was now gone, except for her brother and Radarr, and Mr. Blake of course.

"Yes. His name is Finn. In fact, he's around Piper's age, which means he must be around your brother, Aerrow's, age too."

"Oh! Mr. Blake next time you come, you have to bring Finn with you! I'd love to meet him! And I'm sure Aerrow would too! And Radarr! And Piper!"

"Ahh yes, I'm sure he would love to, too. But he has already met Piper, haha!"

"Oh I see. Hmm," Sora smiled.

"Yes, we should get the children to meet and play with each other that would be fun."

"Mmhmm!" Sora nodded her head with stars in her eyes.

"Alright then, I'll bring him next time. Now…would it be alright if I have some light beer?"

"Oh!! Oh yes! I'm sorry I completely forgot about you being our customer! I was just so excited about seeing you again and then-"

Sora ran around the counter to the kitchen side and sprinted to get a beer for Mr. Blake. And while she did so, she continued to spazz out and panic while she ran around with a beer in her hands.

"Here you go, Mr. Blake. I'm sorry about that, please forgive me," Sora blubbered.

"Sora, you're so silly! It's no big deal."

"No, no, but you're our customer and I was supposed to serve you!"

"Ahh it's alright, please calm down."

"….Okay."

* * *

Mr. Blake took a last sip of his beer. "Ahh, that was good. Rosie always provides the best food and drink."

"Yes, yes she does."

"Hmm," Mr. Blake nodded his head once. "If it's alright, do you think you could tell me about what has happened since we last met?"

"Ohh…that's going to take awhile. I hope you're in for a long story," Sora said.

"Well, I'm going to stay here for awhile. Finn and his mother are out at Terra Neon tonight, so they won't be home for a bit."

"Ohh…Terra Neon, that's fun!" Sora commented. _Terra Neon…that's where Tanner and I went…such a short while ago…but then again it seems like it was so long since the last time I've seen him._

"So tell me, what has happened all these years?"

Sora recalled all that had happened and told him the story.

* * *

"Ahh…so quite a lot has happened to you, hmm?"

"Yes…a lot…"

"I'm very sorry to hear what happened…it's…it's really sad…"

"Yea…but…we're gonna get them back!" Sora made a fist with her right hand.

"Hmm?"

"Oh! I didn't tell you about what Aerrow, Radarr, and Piper are going to do. We're going to gang up and reborn the Storm Hawks! And we're gonna get Cyclonia back for what they did to us, and we're going to protect the Atmos!"

Mr. Blake was a bit startled by this sudden flare of courage.

"That's…a nice thought…but aren't you all a bit too young?"

"I'm not...err…I don't think so. Maybe we can wait a few more years for Aerrow and Piper. But I'm ready, I've been ready, and I have my own skimmer and weapon, and I've got the combat knowledge I need."

"Ahh…now what about skimmers and weapons for the children? And what about their combat knowledge? And you'll all especially need a place to stay, like a large ship or something. You'll also need that ship to travel around and store you're skimmers in."

Sora spaced out for a moment. "…oh…right…"

She banged her head on the counter and stood there.

"it's alright, I'm sure you'll be able to somehow…get all of the gear you need. With the great courage in your heart, I know you can do it," Mr. Blake said, as he patted her shoulder.

"I guess…" Sora muffled.

"Hmm…Well, I better be off now. It's getting really late and I need to get home to my wife and Finn."

Sora popped out from her depressing mood. "Oh! Right, yes you should get home."

Sora walked Mr. Blake out the door.

"Wow, that's a nice…umm…vehicle you have there."

"Ahh, yes, thank you. Oh, here, why don't you visit this place sometime? They might have a good ship you can afford," Mr. Blake handed Sora a card. "It's where I got my transport from, for quite a good price, too.

"Thank you, Mr. Blake."

Sora scanned the card then looked up. "It's on Terra Merb. Merbs run the company?"

"Yes, they do. They are actually known for their shipbuilding skills."

"Hmm, that's interesting. Thanks again."

"Mmmhmm, no problem. I'll bring Finn next time I come. Goodbye!"

"Bye, Mr. Blake!!" Sora waved her hand until he was out of sight.

She looked at the card again.

"Terra Merb…hmm…"

* * *

**PLEASE READ ANNOUNCEMENTS! **

Ahh…I need to get my making-stories skills improved lol. I'm doing my best to make the story as interesting as possible, so I hope you like it. Anyway, YEA! Oh, and for those of you who are reading my stories and reviewing and all that, I sincerely thank you from the bottom of my heart. It's been so great you guys!!

**ANNOUNCEMENT**: I'm going to make a new story with one of my friends MissNimbus, also known before as BiteyLove. It's going to be about 2 Ocs, one for me, one for her, and their adventures in the Atmos. Now…as far as I know, I'm going write the story with MissNimbus by my side, feeding me ideas. It's going to be a fun and exciting adventure, and I hope you'll all like it! I can't wait to begin!

**ANNOUNCEMENT 2**: If any of you wanna make a story with me, I'd love to work with ya! Especially you German Mickey, hahaha! (I wonder if she'll even read this!)Just message me and we'll probably be able to work something out!

**YET ANOTHER ANNOUNCEMENT!**: I like making announcement heehee. Anyway, If it's alright with all of you, and IF I am able to make stories with you people out there like I am with MissNimbus, then I'm planning to take all the stories' characters and mix them together into one big story!! Many stories mixed into one adventure!! I think it'll be cool. Please give me feed back on this idea, tell me if it sucks or if you like it! I'd appreciate it if you could send me a message or even just put it as a review. Thank you all again!


	15. Tomato Soup

Hi everyone! I'm baaaaaaack! Yet again heehee! With another chapter!! WOOH! Okay enough of this let's go on with the story!!

"Tomato Soup"

A few weeks passed, and now Sora was learning to cook things in the kitchen. Rosie taught Sora how to create dishes from the menu, and she also taught her how to create dishes right off the spot. It was a fun experience for Sora, and sometimes messy, especially when she tried to flip omelets with her pan.

"Sora! How are you doing over there?" Rosie called from her post at the cash resgister.

"I'm doing alright, thanks!" Sora called back.

"Okay, just let me know if you're having any trouble!"

"Okay, Ros-"

_SPLAT!_

"…Sora?"

"SHIT!"

The dining room in the inn used to be busy and lively, and now it was so quiet, that anyone could hear Aerrow, Piper, and Radarr playing outside.

Sora widened her eyes. _Damn it, I cussed…_

"Umm…Sora are you okay?"

Sora looked at her self. Tomato soup was splattered all over her face, hair, and well, let's just say the rest of her body.

Despite the mess she was in, she didn't want the dining room to be quiet, so she thought up of an idea, one that she used long ago.

"Shitake mushrooms, Rosie! I need shitake mushrooms!! Hurry!!"

Rosie chuckled as she walked back into the kitchen. _Clever girl._

* * *

"Okay, now let me repeat this. You need to make sure that the temperature for tomato soup has to be very low when you are simmering it. If it's not on low, it's going to boil and then it'll eventually splatter due to too much heat."

"Hmm…I think I get it now, Rosie, thanks," Sora smiled.

"Mmhmm, now we gotta take care of all those burns now."

"Yea…"

There were patches of red all over Sora's skin, so, Rosie told her to go take an ice cold bath.

* * *

Yea, I know it's short, but you know…I decided to add in this little chapter while I was waiting for my friend to pick me up to go to Sky High hahaha. Anyway, yea…I don't know about the thing with the tomato soup is true, but just make sure you don't do that at home okay? Lol just kidding. I'm starting on another chapter so stay tuned!!


	16. Young Love

Hola, amigos! Yo estoy regreso! Con un nuevo capítulo! Y yo tan soy emocionado para todos ustedes para leerlo!

Okay, for those of you who didn't understand, (hehehe) I basically said, hello friends! I am back! With a new chapter! And I'm so excited for all of you to read it!

Yes, well…I just wanted to show off my amateur Spanish skills…anyway on with the story!!

"Young Love"

It had been a little more than a week since Mr. Blake visited Rosie's Inn. Sora and Aerrow anticipated the arrival of Mr. Blake's son, Finn, so much.

"Mr. Blake is a pretty neat guy, he treats me a lot like he treats you, huh?" Piper commented.

"Yea, he's like…my uncle. He always babysat Tanner and I back then when Mom and Dad went out and stuff like that."

"Hmm…he doesn't babysit me, but whenever he comes, he's really nice to me," Piper added.

"I've never seen Mr. Blake before, he sounds nice, but I'm way more excited to see Finn!"

"Yea, me too! More people to meet!" Sora smiled.

Piper rolled her eyes. "Finn isn't _that_ great. He's not really as cool as you guys think he is."

"Hahaha! Why is that, Piper?" Aerrow asked.

"Well, he always plays tricks on me, and he pulls my hair, and the thing I especially don't like about him is that he doesn't have any manners."

"Maybe he is more of a mischievous of a kid than I imagined," Sora said.

Aerrow totally ignored Piper's complaints about Finn. "He sounds like a cool kid."

Piper sighed and put a hand to her forehead.

"Maybe there's a reasonable reason for him to do all that stuff," Aerrow pointed out.

"Haha…reasonable reason…" Sora repeated.

"I doubt there's any other reason besides teasing me and making me mad."

"Maybe he likes you?" Aerrow grinned.

Piper shot her head up to glare at Aerrow.

Sora laughed.

Aerrow put his hands up in surrender. "Hey, Piper! Don't get mad at me!"

Piper narrowed her eyes and put her hands on her hips. "And I thought you were nice."

"Hey, I _am_ nice!" _As far as being a gentleman goes._

"Or so you think…" _What now Aerrow??_

"I'm nice in my opinion." _Only my opinion matters to me._

"Well, in my opinion, I don't think so." _Did I really mean that?_

"Then maybe I should change you're mind." Oh…_Maybe her opinion matters to me too…_

"I don't know how you'd do that." _How would he? What is he gonna do?_

"I have my ways." _I'll make it mysterious to her heheh._

"Do you now? Are you going to tease me like Finn does?" _I seriously hope he doesn't._

"No! That would make you angrier! My mission is to change you're mind so that you think I'm nice!" _Why do I care so much now?_

"And why do you wanna do that?" _Yea…why would he?_

"Because-" _Oh great…umm…because…umm…_

"Because?" _Whoa, why do I care?_

"Because…umm…"

Sora who had been watching the two young kids talking back and forth was now raising her eyebrow to see the outcome of the conversation. But then…

_RING RING!_

Sora slumped her shoulders in disappointment. "Aw, no way! The scene was just getting better and now I have to go answer the phone! Radarr you better fill me in, okay?"

ARACK!

"Good boy, see ya guys later!" Sora called out.

"Wait, Sora! Don't leave me here! I'm…I'm stuck!"

"That's what you get for opening your mouth!"

"Soraaaaaaaaaa!!" _Aw, man…too late…she went to the kitchen…as if she'd help me anyway…urgh…_

Piper looked at Aerrow, intently waiting for his answer.

"Umm…Piper I have to go to the bathroom!"

And with that Aerrow did as he said he needed to, leaving Piper behind with an open mouth, and Radarr slapping his forhead.

* * *

Ahh…Aerrow…you ruined your first chance of possibly being with Piper! Lol, who am I kidding? They're only nine at the moment, almost ten! But…just to poke a little fun at the couple we all seem to make fanfics about. Anyway…I know it's a bit short, but I'm posting another chapter up after this one in like…2 seconds because I couldn't find a chapter name that would fit both…sections. Anyway, yea! Stay tuned!


	17. Phone Call

Here's the next chapter I promised!

"Phone Call"

Recap:

_RING RING!_

Sora slumped her shoulders in disappointment. "Aw, no way! The scene was just getting better and now I have to go answer the phone! Radarr you better fill me in, okay?"

ARACK!

"Good boy, see ya guys later!" Sora called out.

"Wait, Sora! Don't leave me here! I'm…I'm stuck!"

"That's what you get for opening your mouth!"

"Soraaaaaaaaaa!!" _Aw, man…too late…she went to the kitchen…as if she'd help me anyway…urgh…_

Piper looked at Aerrow, intently waiting for his answer.

"Umm…Piper I have to go to the bathroom!"

And with that Aerrow did as he said he needed to, leaving Piper behind with an open mouth, and Radarr slapping his forhead.

Meanwhile, back in the kitchen…

"Oh, that's great! We'll prepare for you right away! I can't wait to see you and you're son, Mr. Blake!"

And on the other side of the line…

"Oh, Sora! You really shouldn't do that! It's your day off. We're just coming by for a short visit. No need to prepare anything for us!"

And then Sora says…

"No, no, Mr. Blake! You treat me so nicely I couldn't possibly let you go by without food or drink! And it'll be free, too! Rosie said that you're a very good customer and she wished that she could prepare more exotic foods for you and stuff!"

And Mr. Blake still feels as if his visit is going to be more than just saying "hello"…

"Ah, Sora, you're much too kind. Well, how about this? I actually have a meeting with one of my co-workers, which is the reason why we can't stay for too long. But here's the deal. If I don't have any food or drink, will you watch Finn for me?"

And Sora is now more ecstatic than ever…

"OH YES, MR. BLAKE! OF COURSE! But really! You should have _something _to drink or eat."

And now the commenting about Sora and Mr. Blake stops here…

"Are you ever going to stop offering me food and drink?"

"Nope!"

"You're too good of a kid, Sora. I'm sure that you're father has very much pride in you. You're such a kind person."

"Aww, thanks Mr. Blake! But really, it's nothing but common courtesy!"

"Alright, well I better focus more on driving over there now. There's some traffic where I am at the moment."

"You'll take something to-go then right?"

Mr. Blake shook his head and sighed.

A boy sitting in the back with blonde hair and blue eyes asked, "Dad, what's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing, don't worry about it."

"Okay…"

"Hello? Mr. Blake?"

"Yes, I'm here…Well, since you insist so much about me filling up my stomach, I _suppose_ I'll get something…"

"Okay! I'll be waiting! Bye!"

"Goodbye…"

"Dad, who were you talking to?"

"Oh, just someone that's going to completely spoil you…"

"Huh?"

Mr. Blake laughed.

"What's so funny, Dad?"

"Ahh, you'll see, you'll see…"

* * *

And so shall the rest of you see what will happen in the future! Okay lol catcha all later!


	18. News

Hey guys, sorry I haven't been able to update stuff in awhile!

I've been really busy…school…and having to move…and well a lot of other things too…

Oh and since we moved we didn't have Internet access, so NOW WE FINALLY HAVE IT! HOORAH!

Lol…I was gonna say hooray but hoorah sounds cooler heheheh.

Anyway…yea…next chapter is coming up like two seconds after this one, and…it says something about me typing at 1:00 in the morning, that was when I discovered we didn't have Internet access, so you guys can just ignore that.

An update on my life: Normally I wouldn't just tell people out there that I don't know in real life about my personal life, but…I met this suuuuuuuper cute guy at my school. He's two years older than me, but what the heck. He's really nice to me and…cute!! Hahaha ). But yea. Just wanted to let you guys know that.

Another update NOT on my life: I'm planning to make another story. It's gonna be about my OC, a girl named Azuri. It's basically a love triangle between Aerrow, Dark Ace, and another OC. I'm not gonna spill out too much. And it's gonna be called…you know what? Ima let you guys vote on the name! That'll be so cool!! And I'll let you guys vote for my guy OCs name too! Here's the list of names that I'm gonna put on the poll…

For the title…

1. Bizarre Love Triangle (like the song!!)

2. Wild Love Roller Coaster

3. Three Guys, One True Love

4. Him, Him, Him, and Her

5. One Heart Divided by 3

And I can't decide which name I should use for my OC guy. You can vote…

1. Allen

2. Devyn

3. Drew

Oh…and sorry about the other poll with Dark Ace and Sora…I was kinda…dumb to do it…but…yea sorry lol…but for How It All Began…oh well I shouldn't let it spill out should I?

If you have any suggestions for the title or my guy OC name, please review, or send me a message. And any comments or questions, review or send me a message! But questions about the details of the story won't be answered so yea. Okay, talk to ya all later!


	19. Finn and Open Windows

Oh my gosh guys guess what? It's like 1:36 AM where I am and I'm really sleepy! But I still wanna type heeheehee! Anyway, let's move on with the story!

"Finn"

"Okay, Finn, so here's what's going to happen. You know I have a meeting correct?"

"Yea, Dad."

"So, I'm going to drop you off at Rosie's Inn while I go to the meeting. And-"

"But Dad, your meeting doesn't end until late at night cuz you guys are going out for dinner too right?"

"Oh…I haven't thought of that…well umm…I'll talk to Sora about it and we can figure that out."

Finn's eyebrows rose. "Who's Sora?"

"She's a girl that I know."

"Is she hot?"

Mr. Blake heaved an exhausted sigh. "She's told old for you, Finn."

"Oh…"

"Why are you thinking about these things at such a young age?"

"Dad, I'm ten, c'mon. I can look for girls right?"

"That's still too young…"

"Well, I'll prove myself older than what I am then! I'll act more mature than my age!"

Mr. Blake shook his head. _Good luck with that, Finn…_

* * *

Sora was making final adjustments to her skimmer while waiting for Mr. Blake and Finn's arrival.

Aerrow, Piper, and Radarr played tag as usual, running around the area and knocking each other down as they tagged each other.

"Guys, please try not to hurt each other, okay? Especially you, Aerrow."

"It's okay, Sora! Aerrow's not that rough, he's careful," Piper said.

"You're a girl, I can't be too rough," Aerrow smiled and winked.

Piper giggled.

Sora just shook her head. Ever since that day when Aerrow started talking about being nice and all, those two haven't stopped…flirting? Nah, they were too young to flirt. But whatever the case, they haven't stopped doing what they were doing.

Sora picked up a wrench to tighten a screw on her skimmer, and on the reflection of the wrench, she saw a sky vehicle coming toward the inn's parking lot.

_Mr. Blake! And his son!_

"Hey, guys! It's Mr. Blake and Finn!! They're here!"

Aerrow, Piper, and Radarr ran over to where Sora was standing, and together, all four sprinted to the parking lot, although one kid in particular wasn't _too_ excited.

The sky vehicle's door opened and revealed Mr. Blake.

"Hey, kids! How's it going?"

"Hi, Mr. Blake!" Sora andPiper greeted.

"Hello," Aerrow said.

"Ahh you must be Aerrow, Sora's brother right?"

"Mmhmm! You got it!"

"Well, it's nice to meet you!

"It's nice to meet you too…uhh…Mr. Blake!"

"Haha, you can call me Blake or Mr. Blake, anything you like."

"Okay."

Rosie came out of her inn to see what all the commotion was about. And that commotion was about Mr. Blake of course.

"Oh! Hello, Blake, how are you?"

"I'm doing, fine, Rosie, thanks, how about you?"

"I'm alright, haha. Just taking the day off."

"Ahh, yes, nice isn't it?"

Rosie and Blake continued talking to each other while the other four were waiting with anticipation to see who else would come out of the vehicle.

The door opened and out came a ten year old kid with spiky blonde hair and blue eyes.

Sora widened her eyes. _Wow, so that must be Finn. He looks a ton like his dad._

"Oh, cool! You must be Finn! Hi, I'm Aerrow!" Aerrow ran over to Finn and shook his hand.

"Hey, nice to meet ya."

Finn looked behind Aerrow and saw Piper and another girl with red hair and blue eyes.

"Hey, Piper, excited to see me?"

"Not one bit."

Finn laughed as he walked over to the two girls with Aerrow.

"Hi, I'm Sora. And you're Finn, huh?"

"Yep! Nice to meet ya."

"Nice to meet you too."

_Arack!_

"Whoa, what's that?" Finn asked a bit nervous.

"Oh, that's another friend of ours haha! This is Radarr," Aerrow answered.

"Ahh, I see. Hello."

Rack!

"Hey, let's go inside and have drinks and food!" Sora suggested.

"Okay, I'm up for that!" Finn said.

"Me, too," Aerrow added.

Piper laughed, "Me, three!"

"Okay, c'mon then!"

The kids and Radarr passed by Mr. Blake and Rosie on their way in, therefore causing total traffic because the hallway was a bit small.

The kids caused Mr. Blake to remember something.

"Oh! Rosie! I almost forgot! Sora told you about that meeting I had, yes?"

"Yes, she did. And Finn is going to stay here until your meeting is done?"

"Yes, well, actually I just realized that my meeting session doesn't end until late at night, due to the fact that we are having dinner after the meeting. So I was wondering how we can work this out with Finn?"

"Hmm, oh Sora! Could you please come over here?"

"Yes, of course, Rosie! Hey, Aerrow and Piper can you please show Finn to the kitchen? I'll catch up with you guys later!"

The younger kids and Radarr responded with an "okay" and went to the kitchen as told.

"Hi Rosie! Mr. Blake! You needed me for something?"

"Yes, Mr. Blake has a bit of a problem. You see, his meeting doesn't end until late at night and he's wondering what would happen with Finn."

"Oh, well if it's alright with you, Finn can sleepover," Sora suggested. "I'm sure Rosie is okay with it right?"

"Yes, of course. We've known Finn for a long time now, it wouldn't hurt if he could spend the night," Rosie said.

"Are you sure?" Mr. Blake asked. "Finn is quite a handful at times, so…I'm not too sure if you would want to do that."

"Oh, no problem, Mr. Blake! We can handle it! Besides, it'll be fun having a new friend sleepover! It'll be a new experience!" Sora pointed out.

"Well, I guess it's alright then."

"Cool! Aerrow has extra pjs Finn can change into, and we got extra toothbrushes and showers and stuff too!"

"Yes, we're loaded with life's necessities," Rosie commented.

"And good food," Mr. Blake added.

All three laughed.

"Ahh, so anyway. Now, that's settled…Oh! That's right! You were going to get something to go right, Mr. Blake?"

"Uhh…" _She doesn't forget anything does she?…_

"Oh, Sora, that's such a great idea! I'll go into the kitchen and prepare something and check up on the kids as well. What would you like, Blake?"

"I, uh…"

"Oh, c'mon! You always know what you want," Sora said.

"Well, how come you don't know what I want?" he asked jokingly.

"Because it's different each time, Blake," Rosie answered victoriously.

"Oh…right…well then…um…can I have a sky quat shake?"

"Uh huh!" Rosie and Sora answered in unison.

"You can go over to the bar area and we'll get your drink ready and you can go to your meeting right away!" Sora piped.

"Alright, then…"

* * *

"Bye, Mr. Blake! Have fun at your meeting!" Sora called out.

"Thank you, Sora! Bye son!"

"Bye, Dad!" Finn shouted.

"Bye bye, Mr. Blake!" Aerrow and Piper said in unison.

"Thanks for the shake! I'll see you all later!"

"Goodbye, Blake! Fly safely!"

"I will thanks!"

And with that Mr. Blake flew away and everyone else went inside to enjoy the rest of their refreshments.

"It's a nice day outside, why don't we go play hide and seek or something?" Sora asked.

"Okay," Aerrow said.

"Sounds good to me," Piper answered.

"I'm fine with that, but aren't you a little too old for that?" Finn asked.

"Hey, I'm still a kid, so I might as well enjoy it right?"

"I guess."

"Okay, then, let's go!"

* * *

The day passed by quickly and now the nighttime crickets were chirping once again, as they always did during the night. It was a fun day, playing all sorts of games. And the cool thing was that now there was yet another person to play games with, and the more the merrier!

Aerrow, Sora, and Radarr got along with Finn pretty well, but Piper and Finn, not so much. Piper did speak the truth when she said he teased her all the time. The poor thing. Well, guess she's just gonna have to live with it.

Sora closed her windows then pulled her covers and jumped into bed, stretching and yawning as always. She took a picture from her nightstand of her and her family. She smiled. It had been awhile since the whole family was together, all happy and in unity, enjoying each other's company.

"I miss you guys so much…I wish you all were still here…"

Sora turned the lights off and yawned one more time, thinking one more thing.

_I love you, Tanner…I love you very very much…and I know you'll always be here with me…_

She closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep, then a few hours later…

_Woosh!_

Sora shot up from her bed and looked around, startled.

_What the hell was that??_

She looked at her window. It was open.

* * *

OMG WHY IS HER WINDOW OPEN?? Well, you'll all see in the next chapter!! Stay tuned! Oh and don't forget to say hi to me!! o! Hahaha! Just kidding. You don't have to if you don't want to. Review if you wanna, and I'll be back when my time comes! CIAO!


	20. Unexpected Visitor

Hey hey all! I'm baaaaaaaaaack!! Did ya'll miss me? I know you did xD. Lol Just kidding. Goodness I swear, school stole my life away!! BUT ANYWAY! Back to business! I better guide you guys along to what happened next after our little cliff hanger heheheh. Well on to the story!!

"Unexpected Visitor"

(We get those all the time, don't we?)

Recap:

_Woosh!_

Sora shot up from her bed and looked around, startled.

_What the hell was that??_

She looked at her window. It was open.

* * *

Sora just sat still in her bed, barely breathing. The whole room was quite, nothing made sound except for the beating of her heart.

Unfortunately then, she remembered about the whole incident with the Dark Ace, and how Rosie told her that the Cyclonians were welcome, and how she kicked out the Dark Ace. Which meant, the Dark Ace probably told all of Cyclonia, and they were after everyone in the inn RIGHT NOW!!

_Oh my gawd….oh my gawd, oh my gawd, oh my gawd, OH MY GAWD!! I kicked the Dark Ace out the other day, and now everyone's is gonna die!! It's all my fault!! WHAT ARE WE GONNA DO?!_

But wait…wouldn't they ALL come? Like a swarm of them? And wouldn't they just burn down the whole place?

Sora then took a deep breath and blinked her eyes, replaying the drama she just thought in her head. _Maybe I'm just too…paranoid…_

She closed her eyes and took another deep breath, attempting to calm herself. She then opened her eyes, thinking it'd be wise to check the window, so she slowly got out of her bed, and walked towards it, her breathing staggering.

_It's nothing, Sora. Nothing at all. Maybe…maybe the wind…pushed…the window open?…_

Sora finally reached the window, her mind still jumbled up with the possibilities of what happened, what might happen, and…oh…too much… So she hesitantly peeked out, only exposing her nose and up out of the window. She scanned the area with flitting and panicking eyes, for any sign of an intruder, thief, or worse…a Cyclonian. But nothing. Nothing at all…thankfully, just as she thought.

As she stood up extremely relieved. _Oh thank all of Atmos...we're okay... _

But then she heard a footstep behind her. _NOT!_

That single, footstep echoed throughout all her mind as it entered her ears. Her heart stopped beating for that one single moment, and the hairs on her neck stood straight up like needles.

_Someone broke in._

Sora whipped herself around, turning to the mystery person, praying hard and hoping hard as she turned around, that it just might be Aerrow, Radarr, or Piper, or even just Rosie…only to find that she was staring into the deep depths of someone's blood red eyes.

"D…Dark…Ace…"

Oooh Another cliff hanger for you all heheheh xD I know, I'm soooo evil.

Anyway, hey Magus732 (i think, the person who owns Max) and MissNimbus!! If you are reading this, I give you my deepest apologies for not having contact with either of you about the stories we can make. But I promise we shall make them soon. I actually planned to make those stories AFTER this one, because I'm don't do so well with writing stories simutaniously. Please message me and we can take it out! I'd love to hear from both of you!!

And for those of you who don't know, I've been planning to create stories with other writers. Meaning, we would BOTH create stories, combine our ideas, etc. etc. and then post them up for the rest of you to read! If you would like to do this with me, please message me! I'd love to work with you. Oh, also, I don't believe that I'm the first person to think of this idea, I'm sure other people have done it. So if for any reason you wish to work with OTHER authors, and not me (for some reason) lol then go ahead, you don't have to ask ME in particular.

Okidokes! That's all I got for now! Catcha all later! CIAO!


	21. Painful Reality

Now, let's see…ohhhh yes. We left off at a cliffhanger…didn't we? Hehehe I bet I killed you guys on that one, huh? Okay, let's move along then, now shall we?

"Painful Reality"

"Wh-…what are you doing here?" Sora whispered fearfully, afraid of what could possibly happen.

She took a step back and now her lower back was pressed against the bottom of the window, almost causing her to fall out.

"What do you want??" Sora asked a bit more loudly, and perhaps a bit more threateningly.

Despite the questions he was asked, Dark Ace didn't speak one word. The only thing he did was continue to stare at the one he still loved, yet betrayed and left in the darkness for so long.

He didn't _know_ what to say, he couldn't _think_ what to speak. There was so much explaining to do, but none of it needed to be said, nothing that needed to come out of Dark Ace's mouth…because it was all right there, staring at Sora in the face…truth. And Dark Ace was there, staring at Sora along with truth, and she got it.

Reality slapped Sora in the face.

"…Tanner?…" she whimpered. "Oh my gosh…Tanner…is…is…is that you?"

Tears began to drip their way down her face.

"What…what's going on? I'm…I'm so confused! What…I…"

"Shhhh…."

Tanner put a finger against Sora's lips, then pulled her into a gentle embrace. She was stunned, he could tell. She was barely moving. She didn't even hug back, she didn't fight back. Sora just stood there in his arms, her breathing staggering.

She didn't know how to take it. Should she be happy? Should she be sad? Mad? Angry? He was back, practically from the dead in Sora's point of view, but…not exactly back as the Tanner she knew.

Finally, she couldn't hold in it anymore. Sora broke into more tears, and began sobbing. She threw her arms around Tanner's neck and buried her face into his shoulders.

Tanner put one arm around her back, and one hand on the back of her head.

_This girl…she doesn't deserve a monster like me. She's been through so much…losing everything she knew, every_one_, only left with her brother…and a skimmer and staff._

_And to think that _I_ caused it…_I_ was the one who took everything away from her…_

_I've never should have met her…I've never should have included her in my mistakes…_

Tanner picked Sora up, then sat down on the wooden floor of the room, and leaned against the bed, gazing outside the open window. He stroked the back of her head for many hours, until the stars began to fade away, and the sun began to peek over the horizon.

He cast a glance at her, only to see the back of her head. She stopped crying, so he figured after all this time, she must have gone to sleep. He gently lifted her head, and was somewhat relieved that he was right. Her eyes were closed, but tears still streamed down her face.

Tanner stood up with Sora, and caringly lay her back on her bed. He tucked her in, like he used to when he was only nine years old, and Sora was just five.

His hand rested on the small case that was strapped around his waist, the case he always carried around. He opened it, and took out a white crystal, and a note.

"I hope this helps...somehow..." he whispered.

But he knew that nothing could erase what he did, of what pain he caused. The scars he brought about, the scar he brought onto Sora, was permanant.

He lay the items on Sora's nightstand, next to the picture of the Storm Hawks.

Tanner looked at the picture, studying its story. His eyes moved over to the bottom middle, where Sora was on her knees, smiling happily, and Tanner right next to her, with Aerrow and his shoulders.

_Those were the good days…_

He took one more glance at Sora, then he left. Just as he came.


	22. Never Forgotten

"Never Forgotten"

The sun's rays streaked across the bedroom, painting the room in a golden color.

Sora's eyes fluttered open, and she woke up slowly. She then replayed what happened last night. It seemed like it was all a dream, but it wasn't.

Because dreams don't leave crystals and notes behind.

Sora sat up and looked at the two items on her nightstand quizzically. She picked up the note in one hand, and the crystal in the other, looking at the back and forth.

She then read the note.

_To my most loved and dearest Sora,_

_I don't know how to start this, but…I guess I should just get straight to the point. The crystal that you have is something I forged myself. Use it, then everything, everything about me, everything that you know of me, will be erased from your memory. I know it sounds…insane. But…I think it'd be the best for the both of us to forget about each other. I don't want you to live the rest of your life in pain. I will use a crystal, too. Please…use it. And before you do, just…remember…no…just know…that I always love you, even after the erasing. I'm sorry…_

_Love you,_

_Tanner_

Sora stared at the note for a good, solid sixty seconds. She folded it up then put it in a drawer in the nightstand. She walked over to the window, which was still open, then looked at the crystal.

And threw it out the window, out of the terra, down to the Wastelands.

"Tanner…I'm not going to throw you away just like that."

She continued to stare out the window, watching the sun slowly rise up over the horizon.

_Our memories, our times we shared, they are too valuable to just forget. And even the bad memories…I don't want to throw those away either…because they'll make me stronger, and I'll be able to keep going in life, pushing through whatever stands in my way. _

_You may forget me…but I'll never forget you, Tanner…never._


	23. News Again

Hello, I'm back all. OMG IT'S BEEN SO LONG! Ha…I say that a lot don't I? Anyways, I have much to tell you.

I'm SO sorry for not being here and uploading stuff, and talking to people who have been messaging me. I'm a very bad bad person.

I've had a mega huge buttload of a writer's block. And I'm not going to say anything else about it because I will probably bore you out of your mind about the things that have been going on.

Yes, anywho…very very very sorry! Especially to MissNimbus and Magus237...err…I'm sorry I can never remember the last numbers in your name. But yes, I do wish to make stories with you guys, I'm trying to finish up How It All Began, so I can have that out of the way and focus on the stories we will be making.

OK! I put up a poll a super long time ago, for voting on a name for a story about a love triangle between Aerrow, Dark Ace, and another dude, and there is one vote on three different names, and umm...there has not been a tie breaker! So, I think I will create that story later, and I think I'm making too many love stories. Hahaha. So, I'm going to make a different story, with action and mystery and stuff like that and hopefully I'll be able to actually stick to my plan on that one.

ONE THING IS FOR SURE THOUGH. I will make a story about Master Cyclonis. Never thought that I would, but I have a wonderfully magnificent idea and story about her. Anyways, this will be a good one for all you Master Cyclonis fans.

And the other other story (the "different story" I'm going to make) is going to be sort of a sequel to the Master Cyclonis story.

So, I hope to update my story more so that way I can get to everything else in my plans! I'm really excited and I hope to see you all soon again!

Thank you.

Sincerely,

LBS (little blue socks xD)


	24. Sky Quats

"Sky Quats"

Recap:

She continued to stare out the window, watching the sun slowly rise up over the horizon.

_Our memories, our times we shared, they are too valuable to just forget. And even the bad memories…I don't want to throw those away either…because they'll make me stronger, and I'll be able to keep going in life, pushing through whatever stands in my way. _

_You may forget me…but I'll never forget you, Tanner…never._

* * *

Later that day, still a bit early in the morning, it was another busy day helping out Rosie with the inn…a very busy day, one that requested twenty-two sky quat shakes.

"Ohhhhhh……oh hells no….."

Sora stared in disbelief in the refrigerator's drawer where the sky quats were stored. Or rather, she stared at the _empty _refrigerator's drawer.

"R-Rosie!!!!!" she stammered and shouted at the same time.

"Sora! We need those twenty-two sky quat shakes to serve to the customers! What is holding you up???"

"Uhhh….I…Rosie…drawer!!! Sky quats!!! Gone!!! Empty!!! No more!!!"

Rosie mustered up the sweetest smile she could at the growling Cyclonians.

"Excuse me a moment, I think we're having some casualties in the kitchen," she said sheepishly.

"Well you better hurry up! Before we send in the Dark Ace!" a Cyclonian threatened.

_The Dark Ace ain't got no balls when Sora's here!_ she thought proudly.

Rosie rushed to the kitchen and joined Sora, standing by her side, and followed Sora's line of vision to the empty drawer.

Her eyes widened.

There was an awkward silence.

Sora decided to break it.

"Umm…from what I recall, there were a lot left from last night when we made Mr. Blake a shake. It's…umm…strange."

"Yes…it is…well um…ahhh…"

"Where do you get your supply of sky quats from, Rosie?"

"I…umm…well…I get them from Atmosia…but their farmer's market isn't open today!!! Oh no!!! What am I going to do???" Rosie planted her hands on either side of her head.

Rosie began pacing back and forth, blubbering and throwing her hands up in the air.

"Rosie! Please sit down!"

"No no! We must think of something!" Rosie pointed her finger up. "We have to get sky quats from somewhere! Otherwise those Cyclonian pigs will-"

"ROSIE!"

Rosie jumped and looked at Sora with a startled look in her eyes.

"Listen, I'll find a way to get sky quats, okay? You stall the Cyclonians. Give them something else. Like…water."

"I can't possibly do that! That is madness! They'll take over the inn for sure! And-"

"Okay, fine! I'll distract them for a little, and you have to take care of them for me after, and then I'll go find sky quats, okay???"

"But-"

"Just…say…'okay'…"

"…okay…"

"Good. Please just work with me okay?"

"Okay."

"Alright."

* * *

"And why would I believe that you don't have any sky quats left? How can I trust that you aren't just refusing service to us?" the Cyclonian challenged.

"Because if you don't…" Sora gave a death glare to all of the Cyclonians that she faced. "I'm going to-"

_Boom!_

"Hold on a minute! I made a new dish for you, Cyclonians!!!" Rosie chimed.

Sora's face held a "what the…" look.

Rosie returned to Sora a "I'm doing my part! You go find some sky quats now!" look.

"Umm…well…uhhh…yea you enjoy your food while I find sky quats! Now you guys believe?"

The Cyclonians exchanged looks going "hmmm" and "the food does look good" and "yea let the girl go get our sky quats" and many other comments.

"Okay, fine! But you better hurry otherwise we'll take over the inn!"

Rosie's face clouded with worry.

"Yea, whatever. Rosie, I'll come back with sky quats, I promise."

"O…okay…"

* * *

"I am SUCH an idiot! Why did I promise Rosie something if I don't know if I can keep it? Sora you are such a dumba- WHOA!!!"

The wind blew a flyer and smacked Sora in the face.

"Pffft! What in Atmos…"

She took the flyer and read its contents.

"Rawline's Sky Quat Sale!

Today on Terra Wallop!

Come and get your fresh,

juicy sky quats from my garden!"

Sora couldn't believe that luck just landed in her arms. Or face rather. And it smacked her, too.

"Oh my gosh, YES! I can keep my promise to Rosie!"

She threw her hands in the air and gave a whoop, momentarily losing her balance, causing her skimmer to dip down.

"Whoa!!!"

Quickly, she got a grip of her ride once again and made a turn towards Terra Wallop.

"Sky quats, here I come!"


	25. Junko

"Junko"

"Gleeeeeeeeep! Gleeeeeeeeep! Gleeeeeeeeeep! Gleeeeeeeeeeeep!" some bullies chanted.

"Guys…I don't want to hurt you," a wallop said.

"So what? What are some knuckle busters gonna do to us, huh tiny?" one bully tested.

"Give us your basket now! Or else we'll beat you up!" another threatened.

"No! I'm NOT going to give you my basket! My food is in there! Get your own food!" the picked-on wallop yelled.

"Come on! Just give it to us and we'll leave you alone!" yet another bully said.

"That's what you said last time and here you are! You came back!"

The bullies just laughed. They abruptly stopped, looked at each other, then grinned nastily at the wallop they were teasing.

"What are you guys doing?" the wallop with the basket asked fearfully.

He suddenly heard a smack and realized seconds later that his head throbbed extremely painfully. He saw the bully wallops take his basket and leave, then…blackness.

* * *

Sora made a graceful landing in a small city which seemed to be the only city that occupied the terra.

She looked over the area and tried to decide where to look first.

"Hmmm…"

Suddenly, she heard a tromping noise, as if there was a group of young wallops running…in fact it was a group of young wallops running! And they were laughing too.

_Hmm…seems like they're having fun…except…they seem to be laughing evilly. Oh well…_

"HEY!!! WAIT!!! STOP!!! GIMME MY BASKET BACK!!!"

"HAHA!!! Loser!!! Make us!!!" one of the boys in the group shouted as they continued running away.

Sora thought about the situation.

_I really should be looking for sky quats, but…_

She looked at the poor wallop running behind, trying to catch up to the wallops who stole his basket.

_Screw it, I gotta help him._

Sora bolted for the group of wallop bullies and targeted the one with the basket. It was easy to catch up to them, since they had little legs to carry them and they were still growing.

She popped in front of the wallop bullies and stuck her hand out, a stern look plastered on her face.

The group of wallop boys halted immediately, but the one with the basket didn't brake quickly enough and skidded right into Sora.

Sora raised her eyebrow. "And what makes you think you can steal baskets from others?"

"Uhhh…I…"

Sora stuck her hand out, nonverbally demanding the basket.

"Here! Take it!"

The bully that skidded into Sora slammed the basket into her hands, and sped off, with the others following his lead. They all ran as fast as they could back to the town.

The wallop that seemed to be the original owner of the basket came and ran up to

Sora, out of breath.

"Wow…thanks…so…much," he managed to blurt out between gasps. "I…really…need to…tell…my auntie…that…you…were so…nice…to me…"

"Hey, kid, save your breath. It was nothing. Here's your basket."

Sora handed the basket to the wallop. He immediately collapsed and sat down on the ground right in front of Sora.

"Wow, you're really out of breath, huh? You better take it easy when you go home. You know your way right?"

He silently nodded his head.

"Okay good. Well…uhh…guess I'll see ya around. I gotta get to my job. I have sky quats to find. Don't let those boys bully around, okay kid?"

And with that, Sora began to briskly walk toward the town, wanting to get to her duty fast. She didn't want to come back to the inn only to find it in flames.

She shook off the vision. That would be a nightmare.

"Wait!!! Umm…Hero!!! Come back!!!"

_Hero?_

Sora turned her head to look at the wallop boy.

"Yes?"

He came running up to her on his little legs and panted, "Did you say you needed sky quats? My auntie has plenty of those!!! She's having a sale today. I think I can get you some, you know, to thank you for saving my basket of food."

Sora smiled. "Sure kid, lead the way."

"Okay!" he smiled back.

"Oh, by the way, I'm Sora. Not that I don't mind you calling me Hero," Sora grinned. "And what do you go by?"

The young wallop boy's eyes brightened. He felt acknowledged.

"I'm Junko," he smiled.


	26. Rawline and Sky Quats

Yes, yes! Me mucho sorrio!!!!!! I know I haven't been on for quite awhile now…but instead of me blabbing about writer's blocks and what not…why not enjoy another chapter of the story? Here's to you guys! =)

"Rawline and Sky Quats"

"Come on, Sora! My aunt's sale is going to start soon!" Junko called out.

Sora barely payed attention to what Junko said. As she was walking through the town, she was fascinated by the world of the wallops. It was quite different than what she had been through. There were big and buff wallops carrying blocks of stone to what looked like a soon-to-be building. People like her would be using machines to carry these stones.

There were many shops in the town, with eye catching items and had good prices for what seemed to be their value.

_It's like going on vacation,_ Sora thought. _Kinda…_

Junko came up to her and grabbed her hand. He began pulling as hard as he can. Both surprisingly and not surprisingly he couldn't pull her.

Sora looked at Junko with a curious and somewhat worried expression. _Is it because that he isn't that strong that other bigger kids pick on him?_

Junko tried walking backwards, going nowhere with only his feet moving, kicking up dust. He now had both of his hands on Sora's one hand, and his face was all scrunched up.

"Sora, come on! You need to help me move you! Let's gooooo!" Junko persisted.

Sora smiled. "Haha, okay, Junko."

The two traveled to what seemed to be the farmer's market section.

_They have a farmer's market here too? Where do they get all of their produce from? _Sora thought again.

"Here we are!!! I'll go get my aunt!" Junko piped.

"O…okay. Guess I'll just um…wait here then," Sora mumbled to herself.

She stood in front of a fairly large stone building, guessing that that was where the wallop Junko lived and his aunt. There was a table set out just outside, with a banner flying overhead saying "Rawline's Sky Quats"

A moment later, Sora heard a thumping noise which seemed to be footsteps and a large buff wallop came outside of the building.

_That must be Rawline._

Rawline was quite larger and definitely taller than Sora. Sora had to crane her neck almost completely up to see eye to eye with Rawline.

"Ah, you must be the kind girl who fended off the bullies for Junko!" the wallop woman said.

She stepped forward and gave Sora a giant bear-…wallop hug.

"I…ah…your welcome…" Sora stuttered between breaths, overwhelmed with the intense hug.

"Ooooohhhhhhh!!!! I've been waiting for someday that Junko would finally have a friend who would look out after him!!! Thank you so much!" Rawline smiled, finally letting go of Sora.

"Phew, I uh…your welcome…again…I suppose," Sora said, relieved of the hug and still trying to get her breath.

"Well, I must know the name of such a kind girl! I am Rawline, Junko's aunt!" the wallop woman said proudly.

"Ahh…nice to meet you. I'm Sora. And it was really no big deal, everyone should be helped."

Rawline and Sora conversed while Junko ran back and forth, seeming to carry a never ending amount of sky quats to the table outside from the house.

Sora glanced every once in awhile to check on the little wallop. _That's a buttload of sky quats._


	27. Farewell, But I'll See You Soon

"Farewell, But I'll See You Soon"

The sun was still high in the sky when Sora thanked Rawline and finished loading five crates of free sky quats.

Free because she helped Junko with the bullies.

Junko tried to help as well, but being a little wallop he was, he couldn't do much.

He looked up at the back of Sora's head, since she was checking over the ropes that tied the crates onto her skimmer.

"Sora…do you think I'm weak?"

Sora straightened herself, turned around and smiled.

"Junko, I don't think you're weak at all! For now, you're young, and you're still building up those muscles right?"

The little wallop nodded his head.

"But…just because you're muscles aren't fully developed yet, doesn't mean that you are weak. It all cracks down to your head and your heart."

Sora gently put a finger on Junko's chest where his heart was. "This, is where true strength lies."

Junko nodded his head again, slowly absorbing the lesson he had never heard before. It was all new to him, this strength of heart and mind.

"Thanks, Sora."

She smiled. "Your welcome."

"Are…are you going to come back? Where are you going anyway?"

"I…I work at an inn on Terra Klias. There is a kind woman there who work with, and she needed sky quats to make food. And drink."

Sora then remembered why she got sky quats. Then she continued.

"I live with her there, and I have a younger brother, around the same age as you, and he hangs out with the innkeeper's daughter, who is also around the same age as you. And today they're spending time with another boy who is also….around…the same age…as you."

Sora paused tilted her head. Why was every kid she was meeting younger than her and the same age as her brother?

"Anyways, maybe you can meet them someday! I think it'd be great if you guys can be friends and get to know each other," Sora grinned.

"Yea, it sounds fun! I'll talk to my aunt about it. But, wait….Sora will you come back?"

Sora never thought about coming back. Not in a mean way, but she never thought that she may never see the young wallop and his aunt again.

No. She will come back. The new people-…wallops she got to meet were too valuable to leave just like that.

"Of course I'll come back, Junko! I'll come back and visit whenever I can," Sora said brightly. "And to get some of those yummy sky quats as well," she teased.

Junko gave a yelp of joy then jumped onto Sora and gave her a little wallop hug.

Sora giggled. "I can't possibly leave you guys behind just like that. It wouldn't be right, even though I just met you guys. But yea, I'll definitely be coming back."

She put the wallop down and patted his head. "Make sure you don't those other wallops boss you around okay?"

"Okay," he replied.

Sora jumped onto her skimmer and hand saluted the wallop, giving the "farewell, I shall see you soon" look.

Junko waved as he saw the skimmer fade away into the sky.

_We'll be waiting! _Junko thought. _We'll be waiting…_


End file.
